Columnist Ruthe Deskin: A fitting salute to the mayor

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Feb. 22, 2001 | 8:35 a.m.

Ruthe Deskin is assistant to the publisher. Reach her at deskin@ lasvegassun.com

Old friends and family members provided an emotion-filled evening for Mayor Oran Gragson as they surprised him on his 90th birthday.

To newcomers who do not know him and might be baffled by the term "mayor," this kind and decent man served 16 years as mayor of Las Vegas in its formative years.

As a motion picture of the lives of Oran and Bonnie Gragson flashed on the big screen, there were poignant memories for those who gathered to honor Las Vegas' first couple of years gone by.

Oran and Bonnie Gragson have received many well-deserved honors in their lifetime, but surely their greatest satisfaction must come from the love they receive from their children and extended family.

Happy 90th birthday, Oran Gragson, and thank you for the dedication and respect you have always shown for your beloved Las Vegas.

Packing memorabilia and personal belongings for the move from the Sun's present location to a spacious building in Green Valley has resulted in the discovery of items long forgotten.

If anyone doubts the almost incomprehensible growth from then until now, consider the projects that were considered "big time" in 1967 (taken from an addenda to the Chamber of Commerce annual report of that year):

"At mid-1967, all signs point to another upswing in the Las Vegas area economy. More than a score of multi-milliondollar construction projects are under way, completed, or in the final planning stages. They include the $25-million Frontier Hotel, which opened in late July.

"The $5.5 million Bonanza Hotel with a 900-room, $16 million addition planned. Also, the Ice Palace at a cost of $1.4 million. The new federal building downtown. Landmark Tower nearing completion at an estimated $1 million. The 35-story, $40 million International Hotel (now the Hilton) with groundbreaking scheduled for this fall.

"Hotel Sahara's $3 million Convention Hall complex and two downtown high-rise parking garages worth a total of $4.5 million. And a $1.1 million addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center."

There were other projects on the drawing board in 1967, but who would ever have dreamed to what extent the building would grow, with an entire Strip that wouldn't even be recognizable from the one that existed in 1967?

A careful study of the sample math exam high school seniors must pass in order to get diplomas makes me glad I am no long a student.

I would flunk outright.

Can all this mean teachers will be so busy teaching students how to pass exams that they won't have time to prepare them for life in the real world?

Opposition to President Bush's tax cuts on the premise that the rich get the biggest cuts reminds me of another area where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Whenever government bodies give across-the-board percentage raises, the poor guy at the bottom benefits least, while the high-salaried honchos at the top received whopping increases.

It's a fact of life -- "Them that has, gits."