Transcript of interview with Dale Duane Everett by John Everett, March 7, 1980

UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett i An Interview with Dale Everett An Oral History Conducted by John Everett 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 Dale Everett ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett iii 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 Dale Everett iv Abstract On March 7, 1980, John Everett interviewed his father, cab driver Dale Everett (born January 29, 1924 in Danville, Illinois) at their family home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers past local historical data. During the interview, Mr. Everett discusses the weather, wildlife, and hunting. He also shares his views on prostitution and gambling in Las Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 1 I’m interviewing Dale Duane Everett, March 7th, 1980, seven thirty p.m. from Las Vegas, Nevada. My name is John Everett, his son. The interview is taking place at the same address. Oh, I think about eighteen years, came here in February of ’62. What was your reason for coming to Las Vegas? Well, my brother was pushing a hack up here, making more money than I was. I was in San Bernardino, so I came up here. Pushing the hack, you mean, driving cab? That’s it. How long have you been driving cab? Twenty-six years. How about here in Vegas? Well, let’s see, ’62 to, ah—oh, seventeen years, and I quit April, last year. What part of California did you come to Vegas through? From Fontana down by San Bernardino, where you was born, you and Joe. And that’s where you was driving cab at down there? Fontana and San Bernardino, drove in both places. Did you meet your wife here in Las Vegas? No. She’s from Michigan, I’m from Illinois. I met her in California, married her in Arizona and then settled in Nevada; sounds like a round robin, don’t it? How was it that you ended up in California all the way from Illinois? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 2 Well, I joined the Navy in ’41, they sent me to San Diego in boot camp, and I spent a lot of time on the west coast and I liked it. Illinois didn’t seem like my home anymore, it was, the minute I left. I like it out west (unintelligible) What do you like about out west, here? I couldn’t tell you, if it’s the climate and the environment, just something that’s in the mind. Or at least it’s in my mind. What company did you drive for when you was in California? Had my own company in Fontana and then I drove for San Bernardino Yellow Cab (unintelligible) in San Bernardino. What about here in Vegas? Drove for Whittlesea, Whittlesea Blue Cab. What was the union situation when you first came here to Vegas? It was very strong, it was very good. How is it now, compared to then? Well, it’s chaos. Only union contract left is Blue Cab and I don’t think that’ll last for much longer, either. How long has the union had a hold on Blue? How long has the union been involved with Blue Cab? Well, ever since they was in (unintelligible) I think that was back in the forties, the Blue Cab (unintelligible) that’s before I got here. And what was your seniority standing on Blue? I was a member of seven or eight, right up at the top. Has Blue Cab ever went on strike while you been here in Las Vegas, the last twenty years? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 3 Oh, definitely. Yes, definitely. How many times? Well, to my knowledge about three, since I was with ‘em. Mm-hm. What was the periods of those three? Well, I can’t remember exactly but the longest one was about seven months. Didn’t that put a hamper on you? It put a hamper on me and you, too, if you can believe it. (Laughs) (Laughs) That we was off the street for seven months, they was off the street. That was way back in the sixties. Was Blue totally off the streets or did they hire scab? No. They, this long, when they was totally off the street, was in the sixties. How ‘bout in the past, did they hire scab labor or? Ah, yes, they did. Mm-hmm. Did you ever take part in any picketing? Oh yes. Yes, I walked the picket line. Had to get five dollar a day eating money, that’s why I walked the picket line. (Laughs) Has there ever been any trouble on the picket lines? Oh yes, some. Yes. Mm-hmm. Flat tires and little beef ups, here and there, you know. Any physical contact? Yes. There’s been some. I wasn’t in any of it but I’ve seen some. Mm-hm. What have been the major changes in the taxicab companies here in Las Vegas? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 4 Well, they’re going non-union now. There are very few union drivers left—and the traffic’s worse. The rules are not followed like they used to be. When a driver starts he just goes out there, nobody tells him the rules of courtesy about who’s first on the stand, etcetera and so on, and a lot of things that you just learn out there on in the streets, you know. So in other words, it’s very bad. I hope I never have to go back. What do you think is the mainstay company here in Las Vegas? You meant the most efficient? Yes. Well, it always has been Yellow, ‘cause they have the better system. But now they got new ownership and that’s spoiling the pot, too, as I understand it from some of the drivers. Dealing with the public from day to day, I imagine you run into some characters. Yes, to say the least. To say the least. Tell me about some of your experiences in the cab. Well, I had a lot of them but the one that stands out in my mind and in Las Vegas here was when I was taking a guy down on East Fremont Street one time, from the Strip, took him via the freeway, and he had a big knife in his hand and he kept saying, telling me he had a permit to carry this knife because he was a, he transferred money around or something. And he laid his hand on the side of my chest as he was talking to me, or my stomach, and he kind of had me nervous. I was, had it in my mind to (Laughs) run off the freeway, if he stuck me, but I don’t know if I’d a done it or not. But that was kinda hard on me, for instance. Anything develop from that? No. No. No, nothing at all. Thank goodness! UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 5 Have you ever ran across any large amounts of money while you been working for the cab, as of large tips from drunks or prostitutes or anything like that? Well the largest amount I ran across was just shortly before I quit. I picked four people up from The Thunderbird and took ‘em to the MGM and as they was getting out, out the corner of my eye and could see a bunch of stuff in the back seat. And after they paid me, why, I looked down there and it was a bunch of money, a whole flock of money. I don’t know how it fell out but it did. I have no idea how much it was but it was several hundred dollars. There was twenties and tens and fives and I seen at least one, one hundred dollar bills. It was getting dark and then I pointed to it and the people picked it up; didn’t tip me a dime—not a dime! And that’s the truth. Did that somewhat bother you? Yes, it did. They was from Waterloo, Iowa. Figures. (Laughs) And I was talking to ‘em about wrestling, see, about you wrestling and you know, well, I better not say. (Laughs) And have you found any increase in the traffic out there, in the streets since you’ve been driving cab in ’62 to 1980? Man, it’s unreal. It’s unbelievable the change. You get home at night you’re kind of full of tension and nerves. Yes. It’s tough. The city wasn’t built for all this traffic that’s, the influx that they’ve got now. It is tough. That’s why cab drivers always got bad backs and heart attacks. Sat too much and you can’t stand the strain. So you definitely think there’s been an influx in traffic, huh? Oh Lord, yes, and it wasn’t the freeway, why, man, forget it. And we didn’t have the freeway when we first come here. And the traffic wasn’t as bad as it is now. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 6 How long has the present freeway been here in Las Vegas? That’s embarrassing. I don’t know when it opened up. I can’t give you a date. But it’s a blessing. Have you also seen an increase in accidents here in Las Vegas? Oh, without a doubt. I can’t give you no statistics but the traffic bureau could. Oh, yes, many, many accidents now. Many. Especially when it rains. How does the police force treat the cab drivers? We know they’re notorious for their outward going driving. Well, all the times I’ve been here, I’ve only got one ticket that I didn’t deserve. So I’d have to say that I think they’re fair. Cop followed me up to Tropicana one day and I had a load from the airport and he stopped me and said I was doing fifty-four, then he followed me on into the Stardust with a fare. My passengers knew I wasn’t going that fast and I knew it. He was just a rotten filthy cop, that’s all I can say, but the rest of ‘em have been fair, I’d say. Isn’t there a taxicab authority that goes around checking on drivers and their happenings? Yes. But we have, they have a taxicab authority, that’s true. Yes. What is their purpose? To supervise it and it’s a good thing regardless of what you read about or hear about. They’re good. They don’t pick on nobody, abuse nobody. They’ve done the most good out at the airport. That’s where it used to be chaos. The drivers really used to abuse the customers out there, something fierce. So personally I hope while I’m not driving anymore I hope they keep the taxi authority, they need it. Yes. They’re not strict enough, actually, tell you the truth. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 7 How do most drivers react when a passenger gets in their cab and wants to go to the Westside? I refer to the other side of the railroad tracks in Las Vegas. Well, that’s, most drivers don’t like to go over there. Some are prejudice and some are scared and prejudice. Ah, you know, due to the racial hatred going on now that’s, it’s a tough situation. Was it that way when you first moved here? Not to the point that it is now. Around ’70 or ’71 it started getting a little, a little ah, a little tough. What do you think’s the cause of that? Our social and economic system is basically the cause of it, I believe. Racial hatred is not instinctive, science has proven that, with children. It’s due to conditions and so on. Do you think the business industry has expanded very much or very little here in Las Vegas in the last ten to twenty years? Well, I think it’s expanded right along with the growth and population. I don’t know if that answers your question but that’s the way it seems to me. You easily hear at least a couple good stories a month about cab drivers. Their happenings out there on the street. Have you had any close encounters with prostitution or drug dealings or anything? I’m sure you run into things like that in the street. No. I’ve had no—no, see, I was a day driver, all my life, and most of that other stuff, most of it happens at night, especially prostitution, not all of it, but most of it. I had a couple of girls from Fresco one time. They just hit town, they was busted and they gave me their card and their number and they wanted me to bring ‘em some (unintelligible) but I gave the card to another driver. I didn’t—never messed with it. Not that I think anything’s wrong with it but I wouldn’t want to get caught in a disgraceful fun, you know. So I never messed with it. But I was tempted. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 8 There’s nothing morally wrong with it, but just was never for me. If I was a bachelor by myself, oh, you know, who knows. (Laughs) (Laughs) I’m no angel. What about the gambling environment? Do you think that’s a nice place or a decent enough place to raise a family in an environment such as Las Vegas? Well, there’s a lot of discussions on that. I think by and large, overall, it’s a bad environment. Not in all cases but in a lot of cases. I’d have to say, if you had a choice, would be better to raise a family in a non-gambling place. Truth. You think Vegas is pretty, is a pretty fast town, then? Well, there’s no question about that. It’s as fast as you want it to be. (Laughs) I mean let’s face it, gambling, wine, and women. They’re all here if you want ‘em. (Laughs) (Laughs) You got the money. There’s a—there’s been a big blow up in the government and the state government about this new MX Missile coming here to Nevada. What are your viewpoints on that? Well, actually I could care less. I don’t pay that much attention to it. I know that if the government wants it here they’re gonna put it here, and it’ll have to go somewhere, and wherever it goes it’s gonna mess up the environment to an extent. So, I really don’t have no opinion on it one way or another, and I could care less, but it’s gonna, they’re gonna bring it here. What do you think is lacking in Las Vegas? Like transportation or television or radio? Well, what’s lacking for some people is not lacking for other people but basically mass transportation is lacking in Las Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 9 Well, if they brought a transit system in wouldn’t that knock a lot of your old friends out of their jobs? Oh yes, that’s true. But it would help a multitude of people that can’t afford to ride cabs back and forth through town, or wherever they have to go for whatever they have to do. How is it—have you had any dealings with the court system while you been here in town? Do you think that the court system is fair here in Nevada? No. Hell no. The court system’s not fair anywhere in America. It’s for the rich, by the rich, with the rich, and any other way you want to mention the rich. It’s a lousy rotten Goddamned situation. Okay. How about, you said earlier that you spent eleven years in the Navy. Would you recommend any of the other Marine boys coming here to Las Vegas after they get out of the Navy? To settle down, maybe. That all depends, John, if, what you like, you know, some people come to Las Vegas and just love it at first sight, other people hate it. Some people can’t stand the heat. So that’s an individual thing you know. And of myself, I like Las Vegas. Some people don’t. Some people won’t. So—and it depends on what a guy wants to do. If you want to drive a cab, this is the place, you know. I really don’t know how to answer that question. Come and look it over. If you like it stay if you don’t (unintelligible) What about the sports program here in Nevada on the high school level? Do you deem it as sufficient or under par? Well, I’m not a qualified critic of that, but I think it’s sufficient, I really do. There’s a— For the size of the, as many schools we got I really do think it’s good. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 10 There’s ten high schools here in Vegas now. Mm-hm. And I think there’s seven up north. Yes. That makes for seventeen. In California there’s over seven hundred and fifty high schools. Right. Nevada is—has one of the least high schools in any state in the union. I think the sport program is good, I believe that. I think they got some fine teams for a number one enrollment population they got. At least that’s the way it seems to me. How did the spectators react to the sports program? Do they come or just shine it? Well, I—that’s hard for me to say, ‘cause I don’t usually go to those others programs, I usually been working. All I got to go by is the wrestling and wrestling is dead in a lot of parts of the country, you know. So, I don’t think they attended like they should, that would be my guess. What about on the university level? Well, that’s different. They got a big booster club and so on and I think that attendance is good. I think. I’m not, (unintelligible) but I think it is. Living in a town for almost twenty years do you—it’s a twenty-four hour town, do you yourself like to go down there and throw some chips down on the table? Ah, I can do it or I couldn’t do it, I can, take it or leave it, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care about throwing the money away like that (unintelligible) Not too enthusiastic about gambling, huh? No. Mm-mm. Okay. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 11 Well, I’ve gambled most of my life, off and on, when I was (unintelligible) you know, but, it don’t bother me, I’ll take it or leave it. Has the gas crunch here in Vegas hurt you, at all? Hurt your family? Oh, it’s hurt everybody. Yes, of course it hurts. Inflation robs you. It hurts everybody. Isn’t Lake Mead considered one of the biggest man-made lakes in the world? Yes, it got one of the biggest shorelines, as I understand it. Have you been out to that recreational resort in your twenty years here in Vegas? Oh yes. Yes. We used to take boat rides and fish. I think it’s great. Yes, I think it’s pretty good. You think it’s a plus then, too the community? Oh, definitely, don’t you? Oh sure, I do. (Laughs) Yes. But I’m doing the interview. (Laughs) Yes. You go out there and ski and do what you want, yes; picnic, sleep out on the sand, get cold and whatever you’ve done it all. You mentioned earlier that you liked it, you just like the dry, that you like the hot climate here on the west coast, how is it that you came from California to Las Vegas in the first place? Well, my dad and my brother was up here driving a cab and I was driving a cab in San Bernardino at that time and they was making a decent living and I wasn’t. So that’s why I came up here, it was just for money, and then it turned out it was a good move; just money, and money, alone. Survival. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 12 Survival of the fittest, huh? While working for the cab company, do most of the drivers have hospitalization? No. Not since the unions got rid of ‘em, no. No. The union provides hospitalization for the drivers then? Yes. When they had a union contract, definitely. But the drivers get a little leery about paying dues, fifty cents a day in union dues, and when Checker broke from the union why they followed and now, let me see what’s happening to ‘em. Well, what has happened to ‘em now? Well, they don’t have no security, no job protection, whatsoever. Yellow Cab just changed ownership and I think they fired forty-eight of them, just interviewed them just to fire them. Fired a supervisor that had been there fifteen years, etcetera, ah, I can go and on. That’s why we have unions. You have these type of people as employers and so on. Do you think hospitalization’s important in today’s environment? Yes, in America? Hospitalization is definitely important. Probably one of the most important things with survival, it’s bankrupt a lot of people. It’s (unintelligible) suicide. You can’t get sick in America. Takes everything you’ve got plus everything you want to have in the next twenty years. It’s the weakest point we got. Has it always been this way? Yes. Since I can remember. Long as I been here it is. (Unintelligible) I’m just sorry I won’t be around to see the change. Change is coming, believe it. How many high schools were here in Nevada when you first came here in ’62? Do you have any idea? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 13 No. But I can only guess—about six or seven, I think. Well, maybe not that many, that’s what I thought, I can’t remember. In fact, are you sure? Yes. Well, which two was it? Rancho and Las Vegas. That’s the only two? Mm-hm. And then came Gorman and (Unintelligible) Good God Almighty! What (unintelligible)? Long time ago. That’s surprising. That really surprises me. One of the more brown cloud, you could say, that looms over Las Vegas, is the fact that Henderson has that blue misty cloud that just hangs over the city. And recently they found cancerous gases in there. Do you have any comments on that? No. But if they found them I believe it. And too many cars (Laughs) too many cars in an (unintelligible) area is a dirtying up the air. Air is nothing like it was in ’62. It’s, it’s a mad scene, but it’s all over the country. Has to be dealt with one way or another. Look like the automobile manufacturers should be able to do something or the oil people. ‘Cause if you’re out of fresh air to breathe that’s it. You—do you think that you live in a fairly clean air part of the city? I really don’t know. I don’t know. I think so—but I’m not sure. How far do you live from Lake Mead? Do you have any idea? Oh, right here, I’d say, seventeen miles. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 14 Pretty close, huh? I notice you live on the outskirts of town, does that bother you or do you like it that way? I like it. And I hope when I settle down in my last few twilight years, was the same when I got in the war, it’s farther away from town than this. Somewhere like (Unintelligible), Searchlight, or somewhere, where it’s just a few hundred people and a few foxes, coyotes. That’s where I’d like to live. But finances won’t always allow that, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that here. I’ve noticed a lot of building going on in Las Vegas in the last five years. How was the expansion taking place in the sixties? The early sixties? How was it taking place? Yes. Rapid? Slow? Well, it was rapid. There was a period in there, I don’t remember the exact year but they overbuilt for quite a while. They just overbuilt and it took ‘em a couple of years to get caught up, as I understand. Now I guess we’re having a hard time moving the houses on account of the interest rates and high prices. Four bedroom homes, payments are seven hundred and up a month (unintelligible) Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world. This draws in the tourists from all over. When you was driving cab what was the most interesting tourists or a group of tourists that you ran across? Mm. That’s tough to say right off hand. Well, in most cases it was foreigners. People from out of the country. Like Taiwan, Scotland, Hong Kong, somebody’d had never been here, and was really, really enthused about it. They’d go around to different parts of the country or the city and look at the homes and the—I’d have to say that right down to earth, that they would be the most interesting. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 15 Living this far from the middle of the town you find yourself, with the rising gas prices, often wondering what you’re doing this far out of town? No, not really. Not, not really. I’d rather pay the gas than live in—move in closer. (Laughs) You don’t like the hustle and bustle, huh? No part of it. No, getting too old for that mess. By the way, how old are you? Fifty-six. Fifty-six? Just getting warmed up. You look like a runner. Do you run very often? (Laughs) Oh, I‘ve been jogging off and on since I was forty-two, mostly, off. I get started, then my discipline gets weak and I quit. But I went three straight days now and I think I’m gonna wait now. Tearing out, I’m gonna be Noah Johnson, the Second. I notice that Vegas since I’ve been here has experimented with professional teams: soccer teams, football teams. Have you ever taken any interests in those? Oh, football, yes, soccer, I don’t understand it. But soccer’s the most popular sport in the whole world (unintelligible) Did you ever attend any of these games? Not a soccer game, no. I wouldn’t understand it. I don’t know who’s doing what or how. But I’d probably enjoy it once I, it was explained to me, how they, how you play it. Have you ever been up to Mount Charleston? Yes. Maybe three or four times. How’d you like it? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 16 I like it, I liked it. Go up there for a weekend or so, it’s very nice. (Laughs) Very nice outing and you know, you get away, and it’s something different, and it passes the time away, etcetera. You take your kids up there when they was young up there in the snow and you didn’t know how to act, you never seen snow; carried on like a bunch of maniacs but you had fun. I noticed this last election year, one of the most renowned names in the state got somehow knocked off and that was Ralph Lamb, got bolstered out of his sheriff’s seat, how long was he sheriff here in Las Vegas? God, I don’t know but it was many, many, many years. He was here when I got here in ’62. And before that I don’t know when, it was long time. Present sheriff, John McCarthy, you think he’s doing a good job? As good as can be done. I think he’s doing a good job, nobody can do any better. What’s the size of your family, Mr. Everett? Oh, I got three kids and five grandkids. And a wife or—are you divorced or separated? Or you don’t want to talk about it, or? Yes, I got a wife and I got an ex-wife—wanna put it like that. (Laughs) A whole bunch of ‘em. (Laughs) Daughters in Virginia. Did you meet your wife here in Las Vegas? No. No, I met here in California. Did she move down here to California with you or you stayed up there? No. She moved from Michigan to California and met here in California and married here in Arizona and we settled in Nevada. Do you think she’s happy here in Vegas? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 17 Well, if she’s not she’s putting on a good front. (Laughs) I think she’s happy as long as she’s around her kids and everybody’s getting along good. Course if the kids, something go wrong with one of you kids, well then she gets all hostile and hard to live with. (Laughs) You should know that, she’s your mother. How many kids have you put through school? Have I put through school? Here in Vegas. Two. Did both of ‘em graduate? Yes, you and Joe. Joe graduated from Vo Tech High School and you’re still at UNLV, as you should know. I graduated from Eldorado. Okay, how long have you and your wife lived here in Vegas? Had she lived here with you the entire— (Tape ends) (Tape begins mid-sentence) Really agricultural state or not? Well, they claim it is. The northern part of it. I think they grown cotton and different things. But with this vegetable gardening, if you’re not, you have to work at it, why, you could grow pretty good, few basic things, like carrots and cabbage and greens and potatoes and greens and, oh, I just said that, didn’t I. Yes. And fruit trees, plums, pickles, and apricots, so there’s quite a bit growing this year. I’m not a very good sprayer and I can’t get nobody to spray for me. If you guys will do the spraying, why, I think this year we’ll have a nice garden. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 18 How long—coming from Illinois I imagine back there had some of the richest soil in the country, isn’t it? How do you compare that to coming out here to this dry hotbed? Well, there is no comparison, as far as farming goes. Back there you just throw the seed in the ground and stand by. Warm and it’s great back there, absolutely great. They have natural top soil, I imagine. Oh man, it’s great. Real great. Just amongst the best in the country, you know. Do you have to treat your garden differently here in this hot climate? Yes. You do ‘cause you have to put that plaster sand in there every three years to keep it from packing, much real fine sand, or else organic matter, constantly, you know, keep it from packing. And it’s very alkaline. You have to neutralize that, one way or another, with sulfur or sawdust or different ways. Mr. Bass, across the street, he uses the sulfur, so we’re trying the same thing. So this year is going to be our record garden, gonna have the best this year. Get somebody to spray it for me, why (unintelligible) can’t afford to buy it anymore, so we’ll pour seeds in the ground, and plant. You’ve just recently quit your job as an ex-cab driver. How long have you been out of the cabs now? I think I quit in April 23rd, 1979. I was due back to work from a vacation and a was—couldn’t quite make it. That’s little less than a year ago. Have you noticed any changes since you’ve been at home or out on the street? Have you noticed any changes in the traffic? Oh, yes. It’s tougher. More and more traffic now. Just in eleven months you’ve noticed the change in traffic? Absolutely! Absolutely. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 19 In what way? More of it. Getting thinker, huh? That’s right. Especially on the Strip, around that main (unintelligible) like Spring Mountain Road, West Tropicana, Sahara, isn’t easy it’s—it’s unbearable. Does— They have to make some changes. Does more traffic mean more money to the cab drivers or more trouble? Well, it means more trouble I would say. They have a live meter. The meters ticking all the time but that’ll mean that they make less trips during the day, which means their put on more cabs to take care of the same amount of business. (Unintelligible) in the long run and it’s nerve-racking to breath in them fumes out there and I feel sorry for ‘em. Hope I don’t have to join ‘em again. I’d just like to touch on a past issue that we talked about, the union, do you think that Las Vegas will totally go non-union, in the future? When you say Las Vegas, are you speaking of the cabs? The cab companies, yes. Definitely, they’re going non-union. At least for a while—and then, they will be abused by their employers, which is always the case, and a bunch of guys will get together and he’ll have a nice, the Labor Relations Board will have an election and they’ll vote for a union and it’ll come back in. But without a hundred percent participation, why, it’s not much good. It’s not the union’s fault, it’s the driver’s fault. The driver’s fault in the sense that they don’t want to pay the fifty cents a day— That’s right. UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 20 Union dues. That is correct. Oh. And when I say driver’s I’m not speaking of all of them but about eighty percent of them. Well, it’s seems to me about ninety-five percent of the cab drivers seem to be radical behind the wheel. People come into town and they just can’t get over the fast driving abilities of the cab drivers. I imagine you have to take on that dog-eat-dog sense to make a buck in the state, is that right? Oh, in this state or any other state. A trip is a trip. And when you get done with a trip you can get another trip. So naturally you’re gonna drive fast as you can safely can do it. Cab drivers got to move. Time is the essence. It seems that everything’s going up these days here in Las Vegas. Just today, I heard that the interest rate that the banks are charging is up to seventeen percent interest. Yes, you haven’t seen nothing, yet. It’s going higher. I don’t know when but it’s going. Hasn’t your wife worked in a bank for at least twenty years? I don’t think it’s been twenty. I think it was about seventeen. She was operations officer, she worked up from the teller, and she went right to the top. But it got to her one day and they was gonna transfer her into a different department, she didn’t think it was right, she just hauled off and quit—and I don’t blame her. I notice a lot more of banks are shooting up here in Las Vegas. You have any comment on that? UNLV University Libraries Dale Everett 21 No. I have no comment on it. I have no, not much knowledge of it. I don’t know why or—I couldn’t comment on that one. (Laughs) Shirley could. Your mother, and my wife, she could comment on it more than I can. So all in all, I imagine you like Las Vegas, or you wouldn’t be here, is that right, Mr. Everett? That is correct. I have to say it. Mm-hmm. Crime’s on the rise quite heavy, have to be careful you don’t get blown away but other than that it’s alright, in my opinion (Laughs) What kind of crime is on the up rise that bothers you the most? Violent crimes: shooting people, holding them up, stabb