A minor correction: The guys went on a 343-mile bicycle trip in rememberance of 911, not a motorcycle trip.

Robert Smith was a great point guard on a great team. Robert Smith, Tony Smith, Sudden Sam Smith, Glen Gondrezick, Reggie Theus and Eddie Owens are some of the greats that I remember from UNLV's past. I know I have missed one or two of the key players, but that does not take away from any of their contributions. Can someone else finish the list from 30 years ago???

Basic High School has now had inadequate progress for the past 4 years. The answer to the problem starts at the top with its administration (Principal and Assistant Principal's). Until there is improvement at the top, we will see the school fail again and again.

Do I want to have Basic High School travel to Moapa Valley or Pahrump for a week day game? No. But I do want the Administration to see the worth of having a successful athletic program. Many CCSD school administrators like Basic do not really care about actually competing in sports. Bad coaches are rampant. But if this new system compelled administrators to improve their program, I would travel to Pahrump for those games. But I am afraid that mediocrity is the rule now and will be the rule in the furure.

Average Joe is at it again. I've figured it out, you like to get a rise out of people with the same inaccurate information. When you were asked to get your facts straight you stated that CCFD's medium salary is $120,000 without identifying what makes up this figure. You also like to constantly throw out the 40% figure. But unfortunately you do not understand (or you choose to ignore) the meaning of these figures. I have tried to help you understand but you obviously are not concerned with the truth. So keep on stating the same old inaccurate numbers as the whole fact and ignore their true meaning. You have great company. The news media and the Chamber of Commerce love doing the same thing.

Vulcan,
Since this blog is getting old you probably will not get this response. But I wanted to make a couple of comments if you did return. First let me state that you make some good observations. But you also have made a couple of bad ones.
First the good:
1) public education in Clark County is horrendous as a general rule. There are good teachers and good administrators still, but they are getting more and more difficult to find.
2)I agree with you about the red and yellow plates on their big trucks or other expensive vehicle. I drive a van or my Toyota corolla. I used to have those plates on my corolla. It used to be out of pride in our profession, but I also feel that it has turned into something more prideful. I currently do not have plates or stickers on my vehicle. Also, I don't like some of the attitudes that are given by either some of the cops or FF's. Where is the humility in our profession?

Now the bad observations:
1) Derogatory high school diploma comment. I have a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Economics. My wife is an RN just as yours is. Since the position of FF is in demand, those with higher educations usually get the jobs over those who don't. Could I be the FF who lives in your neighborhood? Obviously you must make more than my $27.00 an hour since you seem to feel that your location is more exclusive than what a FF should be able to afford. How much do you make an hour? What a comment, "I was a little shocked to find out that a firefighter was living on the same street." I would say that you need a little humility and should not be throwing rocks when you are living in a glass house yourself.
2) "56 hours a week. So is that 6 days a week you work?" That is 56 hours a week with no overtime worked, and it can be up to 72 hours straight without getting off work in some circumstances. I am certain that your accounting firm allows you to go home after 8-10 hours a day and work 40 hours a week in most cases. I also think that you would be allowed vacation and sick leave. I would also wager that you get paid more for working your 40 hours a week than I do for working the 56 hours. Tell me I'm wrong....

Future RN, you have a pretty clear picture of the fire departments environment. Thank you for your input.
Average Joe, if you had went to the web site that Future RN had provided, some of your confussion and questions would have been answered.
1) New Jersey
Median Salary: $28.41

Job Openings: 200

h4. 2) California

Median Salary: $28.19

Job Openings: 1,500

h4. 3) Washington

Median Salary: $24.71

Job Openings: 190

h4. 4) New York

Median Salary: $23.93

Job Postings: 380

5) Maryland
Median Pay: $28.06

Job Postings: 310

6) Connecticut
Median Pay: $22.94

Job Postings: 150

7) Oregon
Median Pay: $22.30 Job Postings: 150

8) Nevada
Median Salary: $21.82 Job Postings: 110

h4. 9) Pennsylvania

Median Salary: $21.65

Job Postings: 200

h4. 10) Massachusetts

Median Salary: $21.40 Job Postings: 530

While we are in the top ten, we are not the top in salaries. There are even some more rural departments that do not pay their firefighters at all. They are volunteer departments. But that type of organization is hard to administer in an urban setting and still have high standards. As for your insistance about the 40% statistic, I would suggest not comparing apples to oranges. Does the other departments include overtime as a means of keeping cost down. I lived in Arkansas for a time where they use about 8 employee's per truck to collect the garbage from the back yards of home owners, when we only use 2 employee's per truck and collect it from the curb. I would place money that our garbage collectors make a much higher salary than those who work in Arkansas, but you will not hear me say anything negative. Just because a statistic states that our firefighters make 40% more than another local, does not really mean a whole lot by itself. If the municipality eliminates overtime by hiring additional employee's, they are then going to pay more for the service.

Overtime in Nevada is not subject to retirement contributions. But hiring more employees will add to health care costs, retirement costs, protective equipment and training costs, unemployment and disability insurance costs, additional sick and vacation costs, etc. So do you want a lean/mean fire department or one that has been bloated to include 20 additional floating employees that costs the tax payers a whole lot more.

Average Joe, you mentioned how much more the cost of living was in other locations. There is a reason for that.You stated that you considered firefighters working more hours to make more money is an example of "mismanagement of our tax dollars by the government." I say that it is just the opposite. The entities that pay less (by not using overtime) but hire more firefighters end up costing the their tax payers a whole lot more, thus your high taxes. As a result, it costs the people more in taxes. I call this mismanagement.....

We have a number of statisticians in this blog. I actually had some college courses in statistic's and in most instances I've found that the percentages are completely worthless unless taken in context... Most private sector CEO's get far more compensation than their counter parts in the public sector. But that doesn't mean that CEO's in the public sector do not also get highly compensated.

I understand that many in the private sector may have lost their jobs or are in fear of losing their jobs because of this economic slowdown. But that does not justify having a private vs public employee backlash. We are all working grunts, just like you. We are not the decision makers. We are blue collar men and women trying to do our jobs well and to provide for our families. If you make twice as much as me by either getting paid more or working longer hours than I do, good for you. I feel that I am being paid a fair wage for the work I do. No more, no less. I do not feel that I have ever been overpaid. What I have done is work very long hours over the years.

Average Joe.

You really don't have a clue do you? You come out with the statement that the medium pay for FF's in Clark County is $123,000 and at the same time say that you don't want to talk about the "salary per hour" of FF's. You say that a base salary doesn't count. So I would assume that it does not matter to you if you work a 40 hour week, 80 hour week, or 104 hour week. You would still only want to receive the base amount of your pay. I started out as a FF in the 1980's with an income of approximately $35,000 with no overtime. Most of us had second jobs. We carried 18 extra FF's at full salaries and benefits to handle any vacation or sick leave usage. To reduce costs, the city eliminated these extra positions to be more fiscally prudent to the taxpayers. Since fire stations can not just be closed, FF's accepted the mandatory overtime to fill in when needed. This was additional time that took us away from our families and added to the burden of an already difficult work schedule of 56 hours a week. So what is your problem? You would rather spend more and get less?

Average Joe, why the hate? The fire fighters are not the cause of this recession. We constantly have training, so what is your point? Would you rather us come to your house with little or no training?

Ultimately, the issue is not that firefighters in ClARK COUNTY are over paid, it is that THEY are more than too willing to be over worked....to provide for adequate protection that the public expects.

If you want to close down stations or eliminate ambulances or fire trucks to eliminate overtime, please feel free to speak to your elected officials. That is the only way you will cut firefighter income without raising your taxes.

Vulcan, I am a topped out firefighter that makes less than $27.00 an hour, not anywhere near the $40.00 you estimated. Get it straight.... What is your hourly wage? ($30). How many hours a week do you work? (40)? As for picking up groceries, how may meals have you had to miss or delay eating? Getting a call during meal time is common with the fire department. Firefighters are on call for 24 hours straight. Call comes in, we come to help, even for you. Forget that meal that was warm, smelling good and was ready to be eaten. If it goes bad, not to worry, it was only our own cash that we wasted. We'll just go have some take out. Oh yeh, we pay for that too.