Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand: Bidding farewell to friends

TONA SIEFERT, Bruce Adams, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder.

All three touched my life and left an indelible impression. Now they are gone, all within the space of a week or so.

Siefert was a beautiful lady of elegance and grace. For many years she has been a fixture at the annual SUN Youth Forum. As a member of the Junior League Sustainers, Siefert was always on hand in the wee hours of the morning to join with her fellow Junior Leaguers to register hundreds of Clark County high school students for the event. She will be remembered with fondness and sadness when we gather again this fall for the Youth Forum.

It was at a SUN Youth Forum where I first met Bruce Adams and his twin, Brent.

The brothers were more than just participants. They came to the forum loaded with literature and backup materials to prove their convictions. I was impressed with their diligence but somewhat disconcerted with their materials, which included John Birch material and the book, "None Dare Call It Treason." These were hardly the bible of a liberal.

One of the Adams brothers was selected as a finalist.

The next year, the brothers returned to the forum, but this time they were quoting Adlai Stevenson and President John Kennedy to support their positions.

I was proud of the Adams kids. They represented youth in all its enthusiasm and sought out truth with a diligence, never fearful of reversals in their thinking. They set out to learn all they could and patterned their lives on what they absorbed from their studies.

Brent went on to become a respected judge.

Bruce devoted his life to helping others. Among his humanitarian endeavors he set up a day treatment program for chronically mentally ill veterans. He was chairman of the Nevada Mental Health Commission.

As a friend remarked when he died, "Bruce was too young. He had so much to give."

Snyder has been eulogized by national as well as local media with emphasis on the unfortunate and allegedly racial remarks he made that cost him his job and broke his heart.

I remember Snyder as a columnist for the Las Vegas SUN and as a father whose tears ran freely when he spoke of his children who were stricken with cystic fibrosis.

Snyder's debut as a columnist was made in an effort to protect the SUN sports department.

Snyder would come to the newspaper to check the United Press International sports wires. He was working at a bookmaking joint which did not have access to UPI. As fast as the results of games came over the wire he would roll them up and leave to take them home to study. Our sports editor complained about the disappearance of the scores. It was then that the late SUN Publisher Hank Greenspun decided to put Snyder to work writing an odds column for the SUN. The rest is history. Snyder was syndicated and later became a television personality.

Not mentioned in his obituary is Snyder's public relations firm that listed among his better-known clients, Howard Hughes.

When people touch your lives -- even in the most cursory manner -- it is impossible to let them go without a proper farewell.

Goodbye Tona, Bruce and Jimmy. You will always have a place in my heart.

County Commissioner Myrna Williams said: "I think the respect we show citizens is the same respect they should give us."

The statement was made during a discussion of a new code adopted by the county fathers and mothers that will "maintain the proper decorum at meetings."

Anyone who has watched commission meetings -- and the same goes for City Council meetings -- can understand why such a code is necessary.

In some cases, I have seen county and city officials become downright abusive and insulting to citizens.

On the other hand, I have marveled at the patience these same officials have shown toward long-winded, and sometimes abusive, people who ramble on without even touching on the subject at hand.

The code is a good idea. It has to work both ways -- mutual respect from the officials to the citizens and from the citizens to the officials.

It has been more than 50 years since Japan was a mortal enemy of the United States.

Recently we watched as Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko welcomed President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to Japan.

The headlines stated that President Clinton pledged to help preserve peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region with American troops. At the same time America will give back 20 percent of the land it uses in Okinawa for military purposes.

If all that doesn't prove the futility of war, nothing ever will.

From a SUN reader: "Remember when 'random shooting' was a kid shooting sparrows with his BB gun?"

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