Herb Jaffe

It began in a simple enough manner. The letter addressed to the elderly resident of Sun City Summerlin was written on a letterhead inscribed with the Reader’s Digest logo. It told him that his “lucky number has been approved for a lump sum payout of $500,000 in cash.”

We’ve all heard the lawyer jokes. But how about the other side of the coin? How about a story that talks about the good things that lawyers do? About how they give of themselves to help others? Lawyers such as those offering pro bono work at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

Travel around Summerlin with an observant eye and you’ll soon discover that an alarming number of folks still don’t understand it’s illegal to text and use hand-held cell phones while driving. Or, maybe they just don’t give a hoot.

A water conservation program offering a rebate encouraging property owners to remove grass in favor of desert landscaping has come under attack in some quarters for permitting one property owner to renew his love affair with a lawn.

Once upon a time, Summerlin was a beehive of new home development –– that is until the economic meltdown hit Nevada, and especially Las Vegas, with the force of a tsunami.

Maybe you haven’t noticed the artificial flora that have replaced the real McCoy on the median islands along a two-mile stretch of Rampart Boulevard, separating Sun City Summerlin from Desert Shores. Or maybe it’s just that you never realized the difference.

Among the grandiose highway plans that teetered and collapsed in so short a time was one that would have widened the 6-mile stretch of Summerlin Parkway from two to four lanes each way. The reasoning was simple, at least it was five years ago, when money was synonymous with confetti, to open up vast areas of the western sector of Summerlin for development and greater economic growth.

Construction on Fire Station No. 107 in Sun City Summerlin was halted for about an hour one recent morning to permit the speeches and handshakes from some of those responsible for bringing this vital facility to the senior community. Then the construction workers, who had unassumingly broken ground a few months earlier, resumed their tasks.

This isn’t your everyday love story. It’s about a lady who loved to dance, loved to perform on the stage, loved her husband for almost six decades and just plain loved life. On July 7, Miriam Shientag celebrated her 95th birthday on stage at the Suncoast’s “Hit Parade,” dancing in front of 504 people.

Although it turned out the collection box was taken by the U.S. Postal Service for routine maintenance, word spread like wildfire around Sun City Summerlin that somebody “stole” one of the drive-up, mail collection boxes bolted to the ground at the four community centers.