Old Review-Journal photos, including one of a young Chic Hecht, above, and one of Sen. Hecht with President Reagan, below, are being converted into one of the state's finest digital archives. Review-Journal File Photos

What's the biggest threat to Las Vegas?

Every once in a while, someone will ask me that question, and my answer is always the same: "Lack of private land."

People are surprised by that answer. They expect "water," "terrorism," "gasoline prices" or the disappearance of the $1.99 buffet. These issues are important, but I believe we'll run out of developable private land long before we run out of water.

That's why I give Sen. Harry Reid big kudos for helping developers get the appropriate clearances to start developing Coyote Springs. Not everyone agrees with me, apparently. The Los Angeles Times earlier this month toasted Reid in a story that chronicled how Harvey Whittemore used his friendship with Harry to fight through the bureaucracy and bring the massive project to fruition.

Shortly after the story was published, a Seattle environmental group filed a lawsuit to stop the project. I doubt the lawsuit will go far.

I wrote about Coyote Springs in this column on April 23. I noted then that it was amazing how fast and how quietly Whittemore had managed to bring forth this 43,000-acre project. Twice as big as the next largest single development in Nevada, this truly is the birth of a new town.

The Times' reporter found this amazing, too. So much so, he pointed out that developers and politicians are "especially close in Nevada, home to a small fraternity of movers and shakers."

That kinda makes it sound sinister. Let me illustrate what this "small fraternity in Nevada" looks like most of the time.

I am writing this column on Wednesday morning at the Coffee Pub. I am here to meet Linda Faiss, a friend, former colleague and now (ugh!) public relations consultant extraordinaire. Coincidently, she is doing work for Pardee Homes, which is the primary builder at Coyote Springs. But this morning I'm talking to her about St. Jude's Ranch for Children, where she is on the board and hoping I will join her.

I've arrived early because I am a recovering workaholic. I sit down and begin to write this column, the theme of which will be something like "private land good, Harry good, too." I know most of Nevada is public land, but I can't remember just what the percentage of public-to-private land is in Clark County.

Luckily, new County Manager Virginia Valentine is sitting at the table to my right.

"Virginia, do you know how much of Clark County is private land?"

She makes a quick call and finds out the figure is 10 percent. The percentage is about the same statewide.

Then Linda arrives, and before she can sit, I ask her whether she can confirm that Coyote Springs has enough water independent of the current Clark County growth grid to build the project.

"Yes, they do."

Gov. Kenny Guinn, meanwhile, sits straight across from me, eating alone. I don't have a question for him on Coyote Springs, but I could have easily asked.

The Nevada "fraternity of movers and shakers" works something like that. I'd say that 99.9 percent of the time it's benign. Sometimes it gets out of hand and results in somebody going to jail. But those folks who want to do something illegal are generally not at the Coffee Pub helping me write my Sunday column.

In fact, they are trying real hard not to be in my Sunday column.

But I'm getting off the point.

Southern Nevada needs all of the developable private land it can get. The only place it can get it from is the government's outrageous 90 percent share. So, to the extent that Reid helped a developer legally convert public land to private land, I say that's good. Real good.

Now, I can't resist observing that reporters from California find all of this foreign. A state that can still be run out of a coffee shop must seem just a little too quaint. And, to see either one of the two U.S. senators from the great state of California actually help a businessman take something away from government for private purposes, well, that must seem outright bizarre.

Nice work, Harry. See ya at breakfast.

Real mover, shaker

Christina and I spent some time with Fred and Mary Smith recently. It had been a while since I had seen my old boss, and it was good to catch up. The visit reminded me that when newspapers write about movers and shakers in Nevada, they cast their nets poorly.

Yes, the Harry Reids, the Kenny Guinns and even the Sherm Fredericks are important. And they are mainstays of the fraternity. But the real Nevada movers and shakers consists of a small group of folks most readers have never heard of.

I don't want you to think this group of men and women are members of a secret society worthy of "The Da Vinci Code." But this group, in private, quiet and effective ways, touches the lives of Nevadans profoundly.

Fred Smith, for example, runs the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the free world. It gives a lot of cash to Nevada entities.

A list of these "real" movers and shakers might make a good column one day.

How many 'plygs'?

The day after Warren Jeffs was arrested outside Las Vegas, I ran into a couple of longtime Southern Nevadans who are in a position to make educated guesses as to how many polygamists live in the area.

One thought "tens of thousands" and the other guessed more than 20,000.

Could that be possible?

Photo history

The Review-Journal is in the middle of a multi-year project to catalog and digitize our extensive library of photos from roughly the 1940s to present day. When complete, it's going to be a tremendous resource for Las Vegas.

When my good friend Sen. Chic Hecht died this year, the guy heading up the project, Joe Thomson, ran across a few pictures of Chic and sent them over. It was fun to thumb through them. I thought you might get a kick out of two: Chic as a young man in his downtown clothing store (remember when downtown was a place to shop?) and Chic with President Reagan.

When the Review-Journal photo archive is finished, it will be one of the finest and most extensive in the state. I'll be sure to let all you loyal readers know.

Sherman Frederick is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media. Readers may write him at sfrederick@reviewjournal.com.