One of the two men sits on the couch in his student-sized apartment near UNLV and sees the faces, the bodies of thousands of fellow Iranian political prisoners whom the Khomeini regime shot, hanged and blew up in the summer of 1988. He was one of hundreds who survived.
The first time I saw her, I was ordering a pizza. Mariam Sarkisian was a teenager helping her father, who owned the place, a typical pizzeria in a mall in the suburbs of Henderson five or six years ago.
Six months ago, officials trumpeted a $4.1 million plan built on federal stimulus money that would allow local nonprofit organizations to offer more of a much-needed service, help with rent and utility bills, and in a completely new way.
Rene Cantu Jr. is in demand lately. The Nevada State College vice president of multicultural affairs and vice chairman of the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce served on a panel for CNN’s Sept. 24 screening of “Latinos in America” at Springs Preserve.
Steve Pinto can spot gaps the width of a toothpick from across the garage. By feel, he can tell the difference between metal rubbed with sandpaper of differing grits. He speaks of colors with such names as “magnetic red.”
The Sun recently found that the three local governments receiving most of the money sent to the valley to buy, fix and resell foreclosed houses had been able to close deals on only five houses to date even though the program is nearly halfway into its 18-month time frame.
Shea Hampton-Earl’s living room is empty, but her head is full of ideas. This spring, she will plant a garden with tomatoes and collard greens in the back yard of the house she just moved into. And in a few years, the 36-year-old mother of seven wants to buy the house with its path that leads to a park in the back and a tree-lined street in the front.
Eve Barrozo’s street is one of only five in the valley where the county has purchased houses under an 8-month-old program aimed at “stabilizing” neighborhoods.