Mike Meade interview, February 28, 1977: transcript

UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 1 An Interview with Mike Meade An Oral History Conducted by Steve Gortz Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2020 UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 3 The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 4 Abstract On February 28, 1977, collector Steve Gortz interviewed Mike Meade (b. September 16, 1950 in San Francisco, California) about his life in Nevada. Meade speaks about growing up in Tonopah, Nevada before its decline in population, his move to Elko, Nevada and eventually to the city of Las Vegas. Moreover, he talks about the development of the Strip, the differences between Las Vegas and rural Nevada, as well as the changing environmental landscape. Meade also spends time discussing the controversy surrounding the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) dormitory at the time of this interview, the attitude of locals, and his opinion on brothels and prostitution. Lastly, Meade talks about the city’s pollution, the sports and recreation throughout the whole of the state and ends by reading a poem about Nevada from a Bicentennial book. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 5 Hello, my name is Steve Gortz, and I live at 969 East Flamingo, Castro El Apartments, Las Vegas, Nevada. The time is 7:35. And this is for the Nevada History Project. I'm interviewing Mr. Mike Meade from Las Vegas, Nevada at this time. It's February 28th, 1977. The first question to Mr. Meade is: were you born in Southern Nevada? Well no, Steve. I was born in San Francisco, California. What year? About 1950. And when did you come to Southern Nevada? Or what was your next move after that? Well, from San Francisco I moved to Tonopah, Nevada in ‘55. I spent nine years there. What was it like there in Tonopah? Well, as many Nevada history majors know, Tonopah was a big mining camp and there was still a little bit of mining going on there. And there was a couple of casinos. Well, actually just one big one. There really wasn't a whole lot going on in Tonopah, it was dying out. It was, it was on its way out, population was declining. There wasn't much. Why did you—were you with your family at this time? Yes, I was. Why did you move over to Tonopah? Well, mainly because that's where the main part of my family lived at the time. Alright. Would you—were you educated in, in Tonopah or Southern Nevada? Well, yes. As a youngster, I was educated in Las Vegas. And then, then we went up north. And I've been educated pretty much throughout, the most part in Nevada. Alright. And did you have any occupations while you were in high school? Any of the regular kind of things or? UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 6 Well, I worked in gas stations and the usual. So what was your—you stayed in Tonopah for a few years. Were you married there or are you married now? No, I'm quite single. Like it that way? (Laughs) Yes, that's what Vegas is all about. Okay. Were you in any part—did you have a lot of church activities you were involved with? At the moment, no. While I lived in Elko, Nevada I was part of the church group. The, the Episcopal Church. Okay. Were you active in any politics or anything like that? Have you ever been? I was part of a campaign for Lieutenant Governor Bob Rose. Yes, that's about it right there. Did you—were you just floating like petitions around for ‘em? Yes, yes. I was kind of working in his office there. I wasn't really in the main part of the campaign. I was just helping out. Okay. Have you ever been in, in any social activities or, or social, you know, gatherings, around in Southern Nevada or when you lived in Las Vegas or (unintelligible)? What kind of activities? Well, it can range from anything. When you were in college, were you in a fraternity? Yes. I’m— Which one? I'm a lifetime member in Sigma Chi. That’s a fraternity here on (unintelligible) it’s a nationwide fraternity. And— UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 7 How was that? Like, what do you remember about that? I remember pledging was pretty tough and— What’d you go through? I mean, a few years back (unintelligible) Yes, well it was pretty tough a few years ago. Fraternities are kind of going downhill now. There seems to be a growing disinterest in fraternities among young people. I don't know. It was tough. It was tough. There was a lotta, a lotta stuff we had to go through. There's a lot of stuff I can't really talk about. But you always hear stories about initiation and it was pretty much the same. Okay. So then from Tonopah, where was your next move? We moved to Elko, Nevada. And there I spent about, oh, about eight years. And got some, some of my high school education there. And that's where my family, my parents and my sister lives right now. Yes. And then you moved down to Vegas? Yes, went from there down here to Vegas. Right. Okay. What do you think of the town of Las Vegas? Like from the time you moved here to, to now? Is it, is it very different from the time you were first here? Oh, yes. Yes, it was— Development wise? Well, yes. The, the casinos were more or less up and down Fremont Street. There was a little bit going up and down the Strip. At the time, I think the Aladdin was just, just new, brand new. And the MGM Grand wasn't there. Some of the older ones like Flamingo and—Flamingo was there, it's now getting rebuilt. Caesars Palace was new, the Landmark (unintelligible) wasn't quite finished getting built yet. [The Landmark opened in 1961; Aladdin in 1962, and Caesars Palace UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 8 began construction in 1965.] And the residential areas have gotten a lot bigger. The town's doubled twice over since then. Mm-hmm. It's just really grown. That's about the main, the main thing. Okay. What do you think about gambling as, you know, kind of a recreational activity? Or do you gamble? Or do you tell people that it's good to gamble or bad? Or what are your views on, on gambling? Well, I'll tell you, Steve, I being a resident of Nevada all my life, I've gotten my fill of gambling. And it's kind of one of those things that you just do and you get it out of your system. You know, it's just like, oh, I don't know, after you do some for a while you just don't—the thrill’s gone. I don't do it myself anymore. But a lot, I've found a lot of people coming into Nevada, it starts out with just the slot machines and then they win a little bit, they get a taste of that winning and then they just get a little, a little bit of the greed in them and they end up going on to the tables and on the roulette. And, and I don’t know, they learn their lesson. Gamblin’ doesn't pay. They didn't make the hotels and stuff from losers, or from winners I mean. Do you feel that the gambling in Las Vegas has made the town—I heard on the news that it was like number one in the country for crime. Do you feel like, like gambling and—? Oh definitely, definitely. People—well, there's a drug problem. And like maybe just say, for instance, say, some drug addict needed some, needed to fix and he had four dollars, five dollars in his pocket and—or maybe even his paycheck and he walked down and he gambled it all away and he needed the money for a fix. And so he'd go out, well go out and steal. Even people who just, well even people who just lost all their money, you know, they go to loan, loan companies. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 9 Or, or even resort to robbery, you know. I, I think there's a lot. Yes, I think there's a lot going on. Let me, let me skip back here. What—you graduated from UNR, is this, is this right? Yes. And well, compared to UNR, what do you think of UNLV? Well— Do you know anyone who's been there? Been where? UNLV. UNLV? Yes. Well, I have a nephew that’s attending it now. And— (Unintelligible) (Unintelligible) don't know that the campus is nicer. Has he, has he had any complaints about the school or? Oh well, I don't know. He's, he's from Elko too and Vegas is more or less kind of, in my opinion, it's not really even a part of Nevada. I mean, the, the way—just the social structure and the type people, you know, it's, it's kinda, it's very different. Very different for a rural Nevadan to come down here to Las Vegas and adjust. He's having a tough time and I don't know. And plus he’s got a few—I don't know, he's not really happy with the school in general. How about sports wise? Do you follow the sports like from the school? Oh yes. Sure do. I used to play a little basketball myself so I check out Jerry Tarkanian and Runnin’ Rebels. Do you happen to know any athletes out there at UNLV? I mean, have you talked to them about sports or anything? UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 10 Yes, yes. Well, right now I'm, I'm an unemployed trainer and I'm, I go on to the UNLV training every once in a while, and see Rodney and— Do you, do you presently have a job at all or (unintelligible)? Yes. Well, I’m at the State of Nevada Highways. But I—that's not really, I want to get a job as a trainer. I’d like to say about knowing some of the guys, I've, I’ve met ‘em in the training room. Yes. You work for the highway— Yes. The State of Nevada Highway Department. What kind of work do you do there? Well, right now I’m whatchu call a highway maintainer. And I just work on a lot of slow, heavy machinery. That kind of stuff? Yes, maintain the roads. Okay. Recently there's, there's been a big squabble about the dorm over at UNLV and it's recently been disclosed that it's going to be torn down after, you know, a big fight. Mm-hmm. And how do you feel about that? Do you feel like there should be room and board for out-of-state students or? Yes, well, Steve, just from my observations of other schools, if you're going to have a university, you've got to cater to not only the in-town people, but students from other states, other communities. And for students to come into this school by themselves, it's tough. There aren't that many places that are affordable for the out-of-state student to buy for himself or herself. So I think it's a shame the dorm’s on its way out. I think, first of all, it's going to cut down on the UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 11 amount of out-of-state students coming to the school. And it's going to kind of regress the school to the point of where it was a few years back: a community college. It's going to be, it's just going to be a city college. I don't think it's going to be, become a university unless if you do get the out-of-state students in. To do that, you're going to need a place for them to stay, a place for them to congregate and meet, you get into school activities and things like that. Do you feel that there's any kind of college atmosphere at this school or does the town just kind of gulp it all up? Well, all I know is of what my nephew says and I get the impression from him that, that out-of-state students are, feel very alienated here. Things are very money orientated, very flashy go-go type thing, you know. The out-of-state student coming here to study, I don't know, I don't think this atmosphere is conducive to studying. It's, you know, it's just too much get out all night long stuff. No, I don't think it's a good atmosphere for studying (unintelligible). Okay. Nevada is kind of known for the atomic test sites. How do you feel about that? About, you know, the testing out over in Nevada? Do you feel like it's hurting or helping or the United States? Do you have any comment on that? Well, as far as helping, I imagine, well, it's giving people jobs as far as helping that. Was there something about President Carter closing that off or? Yes. Well, his policies seemed to lean toward the stopping of atomic testing, seemed to lean towards limiting our arms. Yes, I guess he's trying to shut her down. Do you happen to know any people who are, you know, totally obviously against that since it'd be their own job? Have you heard anything? Well, no. I haven't spoken to anyone directly. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 12 Okay. How about—have you noticed any economic changes in Southern Nevada since, you know, you've been here? Economically speaking. Economic changes, economically speaking, huh? Well, let's see. I imagine the, the cost of living’s probably, oh, a little bit higher. Oh, I don’t know. Okay. How about, how about environ—any environmental changes? Oh yes, definitely. There used to be an area called Paradise Valley out here and, gee, I think even twelve years ago, it used to be all green. In fact, when the Mormons came in and settled Las Vegas, the whole Las Vegas Valley here was like a, oh, an oasis, more or less. There's a spring and it was very green and due to all the population in the past, oh, ten years, there's a water table that Las Vegas sits on and it's getting drained. Apparently, the—Las Vegas is dropping, you know, sinking at a rate of, I don't know, an inch or two a year. Just, just sinking into the soil because of all of the water and, and plus the tourists. We're, like I say, we are in a valley. And for a while we weren't getting much winds and a lot of the pollution from the cars and, and some of the industrial area in Henderson was putting out a lot of smog. And we were, we had a, gee, the first or the first warning for people with respiratory problems in Nevada that I've ever heard of. Okay. How about—? Have you—? When I first got out here from California, it seemed like the more Nevadans I ran into, they weren't, you know, they didn't show themselves to be friendly. So, relating to any kind of social changes with the people, the way the people were when you first got here to the way they are now, have there been any significant changes? Oh for sure. Well, yes. It, it—the main part is just what kind of people, you know, there are different types of people. For the most part, the people in Las Vegas and because of their job they have to be a bit suspicious and hard-nosed because, because mainly of the gambling and, like I said earlier, well the crime has something to do with it. People, gamblers are, well, they're UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 13 gamblers, you know, they'll just about do anything to take a gamble on money and like people are always trying to pull something off on everyone down here. And well people are just forced to be a little bit on a suspicious side. So the more gambling, the more tourists, well, the more—well, the more colder it seemed the people are becoming. Mm-hmm. To the tourists and to each other. What do you, what do you think about—how many times have you traveled out of state and heard people, you know, comment about Nevada? Most people don't even, you know—would you agree that a lot of people don't even know about Nevada and about what is in Nevada besides Las Vegas? Oh for sure. When people talk about Nevada, the first thing they think of is Las Vegas. And the second thing they think of, well, Reno. Reno is a nice area. And they don't realize that half of Lake Tahoe is in Nevada and that's very beautiful. Mm-hmm. And there's a lot of mountains. People think Nevada is a desert, but there are a lot of mountains. Most of Nevada sits very high, over a mile high and there's a lot of snow and a lot of green up north. Mm-hmm. People just don't, well, they just don't see it because it's not a big tourist attraction. Okay. Now, your birthplace was, was where? San Francisco. Okay. And your birthdate is? Well, September 16th, 1950. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 14 Okay. And what nationality are you? Well, I'm mostly Danish and English. And—okay. You’ve lived in Nevada for a total of how many years? Oh, gee, going on about twenty, twenty-two years. Okay. And what jobs have you held while you're in Nevada or Southern Nevada? Oh, I’ve worked at various gas stations up north and worked at the highway department up, up north in Elko and then I got transferred down here and I've been working here since waiting for, like I said, a job as a trainer. Alright. And your father's name? Richard B. Meade. And where was he born? Long Beach, California. And your mother's name? Sharon (unintelligible) Meade. And where’s she born? Reno, Nevada. And is it true that your descendants [ancestors] came from Europe? Somewhere in Europe? Yes. My, my parents, or my father's parents, excuse me, came from Denmark. Uh-huh. And that was about, oh, when—well pretty near to about when automobiles were just starting to get going. They came over in a, in a buggy part way and the rest in a wagon. They made it all the UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 15 way, all the way, they came all the way to Nevada and just stopped in Reno. So it was pretty, it was a pretty hectic thing. They had a tough go of it. Okay. And your family back in Elko right now, you have—besides your mom and dad, do you have any brothers or sisters? I have one sister. And what's her name? Renee Meade. Okay. And have you been, like, any—any places, like, you know, traveled around maybe out of the United States? Or have you, like, just toured around (unintelligible)? I've spent the most part of my life in the, in Nevada. I have been to—as far south as Long Beach in California, as far north as San Francisco. And I've been into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon. Did you, did you find Nevada kind of in a backwards way compared to the other states you've been through or in a lower bracket? Socially or? Yes. Socially or economically? Environmentally or—yes, economically. I see. Well, population wise, yes. And maybe along with the population, of course, maybe a bit primitive, because we don't have the metropolitan areas that some of the other states do, namely California. And I don't know, I—well, most of the states back, like I say Idaho, Idaho is pretty much the same. They do have, they, they have much, many more people. Montana. I mean, they're all kind of spread out towns, or very spread out. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 16 Uh-huh. When you mentioned you went to UNR or at any time have you received any awards or honors for one thing or another? At UNR? Yes, or in high school. Okay. Well, in high school I played a little basketball and I was (unintelligible) All-American my senior year and I was All State. And then I played ball at a four year junior college in Idaho and then transferred to UNR and played JV ball there for a year. And then I just went on to pursue my career, which I haven't quite obtained. Have there been any serious illnesses at any time in your family or most of the time? No, just about—well, on one side of my family my great grandfather just died a few years back at a hundred and three. And my great grandmother died at ninety-five. And I don't know (unintelligible) everyone just pretty much lives and lives and lives. Pretty healthy family, huh? Yes, healthy. Just healthy. Okay. (Laughs) Do you, do you have any special skills and interest in anything, you know, out of the ordinary or (unintelligible)? Out of the ordinary? Well, I do—. Well, I'm, I do a lot of sports. I do a lot of woodworking in my spare time, making furniture. I've made, well for the bicentennial year here, I went back up to Elko for a while and one of my friends works with wood real well and we made a lot, we made some American instruments that were, you know, they were made in America, namely the dulcimer and banjo. Oh. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 17 The only American made instruments, we handmade those. And I don’t know, tennis is a big hobby of mine. Do you get—oh, you so you get into tennis, huh? Yes, tennis and racquetball, whatever. Whatever I can get into. Are you a big fan of tennis or, or do you go to any of the matches here in Las Vegas? I'm not so much a fan as just a participant. I, I just like to get out and do things. I'm not a groupie (unintelligible). Okay. What have the—have you had any key points in your life? Do you have any, like, like anything that's motivated you so much that you figure it was just a key? You know, a big key in your life. Hmm. Or is that (unintelligible) is going to happen at some time? Well, I just don't know if it's really happened yet. Do you have any goals set? Yes. Motivational goals? Well, I plan to, plan to have a nice house up in the hills up in northern Nevada. Nice house right, you know, out of town more or less. A small ranch type thing. And just a small spread, just all paid for, nothing extravagant. You know, I just—and then finally get a job that I’ll be very happy with and have a family. Relax. Yes, just relax. Get, get away from the hassle. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 18 Okay. Status wise in the jobs you've had before and the other places you've lived, were they, like, were you ever looked down upon? Or, you know, you just considered a regular person in other places you live besides? Well, let’s see. Just a regular person. Yes, I suppose. I suppose down here in Vegas, I'm more regular person. In the smaller areas you live in, it's easier to be looked up upon. Yes, I guess down in Vegas (unintelligible) that way. Alright. In Las Vegas, the city itself, do you feel like it's holding up Nevada? I mean, if there wasn't any Las Vegas, Nevada would probably be considered as—what is in Nevada besides Las Vegas that one would be interested in? Well, when you say Las Vegas, I take it to mean gambling and shows. Is that what you mean? Yes, I mean, outside of Las Vegas. Okay. Then outside of Las Vegas. Well, there's still a lot of cattle raising going on, a lot of—oh, there’s skiing in Reno. A lot of people go up to Lake Tahoe to ski, water ski. Do you like—do you ever get into any of those sports? Oh yes, I learned how to ski when I was about nine. And then I was on a little kid’s ski team for about three years and got into snow skiing and waterskiing, and I don't know, there's a lot to do. There's lots to do in Nevada, a lot of, you know, just getting out and doing stuff in the sun and in the clear air. Uh-huh. Would you, you'd obviously rather live in Nevada than any other—? Oh, definitely. I'll probably spend the rest of my life in Nevada. Okay. What do you think about Carson City? Like the capital of Nevada, right? Yes. Right. What about it? Have you ever been there before? UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 19 Oh yes, I've been there a lot like when—I have resided in Lake Tahoe for a little bit for, oh, I have few relatives up there and I've been there and that's real close to Carson City. And I've been through there. I have an aunt and uncle that live in Carson City. And I don’t know, it was thought to be one of the smallest, or if not the smallest, capital in the United States. (Tape one ends) Just about four years ago, they changed Storey and I—Storey County and, I think, Ormsby County into one and now it's called Carson City. [Ormsby County and Carson City were consolidated into a single municipal government called Carson City in 1969. Storey County was not involved.] They just made it into a big city. And now it's the biggest capital in the United States. But, area wise, mileage wise, it's the biggest but actually in populations it’s probably still one of the smallest. Are there any attractions there? The Nevada State Museum is there, I believe. And, of course, the state capitol building and a lot of the state head offices like motor vehicles, all those are there. Mm. There really isn't much for a tourist to go see except for just the capital. What do you think of Governor O’Callaghan? You think he's a good governor? Yes, I think he's a good governor. I vo—I voted for him. And I don't know, he's more of—more for the rural Nevadans, more for, I don’t know, he's given a lot of help to the smaller town. He's paid a lot of attention to what really most of Nevada is, which is rural. He’s, he’s helped, he’s helped Nevada out quite a bit. So you, like, agree with the politics? He’s a democrat, right? Yes. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 20 So you agreed with, like, the democratic platforms of Nevada for the last few years? Well, I'm Republican, but you know, like, really, in my opinion, that just, you know, all it is, is just a thing to separate the candidates is all. When it comes down to the, you know, the major election, I just, you know, I vote for the man who's right for Nevada if it's a governor or right for the country if it's the president or (unintelligible). But, uh, he's done a good job and, you know, I'm sure there are some things that I'm not aware of that probably I wouldn't agree with but as a rule, you know, he's, he's had a pretty sound for, for eight years. Okay. What do you think about tourism in all of Nevada and mainly Southern Nevada? Like in the northern parts, there aren’t too many places to go tourism wise, correct? Compare, comparative to Las Vegas, no. But like I said, like Reno is probably a pretty good, pretty good tourist attraction there. They're a small scale gambling area compared to Vegas. I don't know, there are things like the Lehman Caves that attract people. It's an underground, underground— (Unintelligible) Caverns, yes. Stalagmite, stalactite type, type things. Have you been through there? Yes, it's just, just a little bit south of Ely. It's really nice. There's some natural, natural springs like geysers, just a little bit west and south of Elko. I’m trying to think of a name, it slips my mind right now. And there's some geysers there. There are a lot of ghost towns that people go see like Belmont, which is a little bit north of Tonopah. Like the first settlement, like Virginia City. A lot of people go see Virginia City, Bonanza, you know, the Ponderosa up at Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe itself, a lot of people go there. Genoa, the first town in Nevada, a lot of people go see that. I don’t know, there's a lot. It depends, like rock hounds and people who just like to go out and UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 21 see things, see the heritage of Nevada. I would say that, that the northern part of the state, I'd say from north of Las Vegas, there would be a lot of interest, a lot of interesting things for them to see. So, do you think that the northern half would be more historical than the southern half? Or is it (unintelligible)? I would say there's, there—it would be more for the person that's looking, there would be more for the person looking for things like that. Yes, like the Pony Express went through here and stuff, that type thing then, then for the person who, well you know, the person who wants to go have a good time, spend a lot of money will come down to Vegas. The person who wants to see sights and things—. Uh-huh. Well, go up north. Okay. What do you think about the mafia or do you think there's a mafia in Las Vegas? And do you think, if there is, that Frank Sinatra—you know, that there's always been like a rumor that he's been associated with it for an awful long time. Okay. Well, I don't know and I won't, I wouldn't care to say about Frank Sinatra and the mafia. But there is mafia in Las Vegas, I'm sure of. I have no personal proof, of course. Nothing's ever happened to you? Nothing's ever happened to me. I do have friends up in Elko that have relatives that are in the mafia. I do know of— Could, could you elaborate on how? I could—I couldn't give any names, I shouldn't. No, you shouldn’t, you shouldn’t. UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 22 But like, there is even mafia in Elko, Nevada. Or there is said to be, excuse me, in brothels. Like in Elko, there are, oh, five through six. They're said to be head (unintelligible) mafia has a hand in it. In Wells they're said to have a hand in that with shipping the girls around. Down here in Vegas, I don't know. I'm sure in some of the big clubs, I'm sure that they own stock or something, some—I'm sure that, that, I believe that when, when big gangster wars in Chicago left, a lot of them came out west and a lot of them came to Vegas because of, well, the laws. Gambling was legal and drinking and this and that. It was pretty wild. I'm sure, I'm sure that a lot of them found sanctuary first here in Las Vegas and probably gave it’s good start in gambling and stuff. Alright, what do you think about prostitution first being legal in Nevada? And, you know, surrounding like Clark County where it's not legal to have a house, you know? Mm-hmm. Well, personally, I'm, I'm all for brothels or bordellos or whatever you want to call them. I'm all for those. They’re, you know, they're in houses and, like in Winnemucca, Wells, Elko, Ely, Battle Mountain up north, even Reno has ‘em outside of the towns or to the outskirts. There, they're off like out on the outer part of town, not in the rural part, not in the downtown area where like if family was going out to dinner, there wouldn't be one standing there. So like, if the person wanted to go have that certain type of pleasure or that kind of recreational, whatever want to call it, they could go out of town and do it and not really be infringing on anyone else's rights by doing it, whereas down here in Clark County brothels are illegal and there are hookers and prostitutes and pimps running all over the place. They're in the bars, they’re—and plus, there is a rampant, right now, there is a rampant rage of gonorrhea all over Las Vegas, the health department is trying to cut that down. In the brothels, the ladies are checked twice a week, sometimes more often, and this is done through the county. With, with prostitutes well, you UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 23 know, they, you know, they're on a tight budget, they give all their money to their pimps, they don't have, you know, they just don't really care to go to the doctor and get themselves checked. So a lot of times, tourists coming into Vegas, they end up with going home with more than what they came with. Do you feel that if there were brothels allowed, like in Clark County, that would clean up Las Vegas like in this situation? Maybe a little bit more. I think that the brothel idea is a good one. I think that it would—there are a lot of, well I think that it would just, it would help the town. Because well, of course, it's more expensive with, you know, it's more expensive, well and plus the health reasons. I just, I think people are not so naive to think that that's not going on in Nevada. So why try and hide without have, you know, why just let prostitutes run around? Why not just have them on the outskirts of town? And then if someone, you know, if you want to go out and do it, well go out and do it. Plus, you know, like I say, they get checked by doctors and stuff. So it's more, a more healthier type situation. Atmosphere? Yes. Yes. Okay. Kinda related to this but not exactly. What do you think about the drinking age being lowered maybe from twenty-one to eighteen? Or, or something of this nature, like in Arizona, drinking age is eighteen or nineteen and Las Vegas seems like it's, it's such a, you know, it's such a busy town and full of, you know, all the modern attractions and everything, it seems like maybe the drinking age would be lowered or something. Mm-hmm. But what do you think about that? UNLV University Libraries Mike Meade 24 Well, when I was eighteen, I was all for it (laughs) you know. But it's really not feasible, because there are bars—well, okay, I think that, that if you're eighteen, you should be able to drink.