Now that corrupt former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone has been walloped with a six-year sentence in federal court, it raises the question of whether he will rethink his decision not to burn anyone associated with the FBI's ongoing public corruption case.

We've heard what Malone has said through attorney Dominic Gentile: He can't help the government because he cannot tell a lie.

Yeah, just call him George Washington with a rap sheet.

Let's just say that not everyone believes Malone. In fact, I'll bet there are people in the community Malone could easily shove under the bus in order to lighten his sentence.

Perhaps he won't help the government with its theory -- that developer Eskander Ghermezian participated in a dirty deal with Malone and Don Davidson -- but the former commissioner surely must recall someone else worth selling out. (Corrupt former Commissioner Erin Kenny previously testified that she took cash from Ghermezian, a claim the developer has denied.)

For now, Malone is a stand-up guy.

But for how long?

Let me speculate.

If the U.S. attorney's office decided to grant Malone immunity and called him before a federal grand jury, effectively compelling his cooperation, he'd face possible contempt charges that could add years to his sentence if he chose to remain silent.

It's hard to believe even Malone would be dopey enough to endure up to an additional three years of hard time.

Will Malone make the call?

SALT LAKE EXAMPLE: Some cities aren't opposed to sweetening the pot to draw and keep a professional sports franchise. Take Salt Lake City.

Just this week, the Utah House voted to devote $35 million to pay for a parking garage and real estate that will provide the site of a stadium for the Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer team.

You may be forgiven if you didn't know of the existence of Real Salt Lake, Major League Soccer, or even Salt Lake City. The point is, state and city leaders there are willing to fade the political heat in an effort to make a comfortable home for a professional sports franchise.

Is such collegiality in Southern Nevada's future?

SLY'S STRENGTH: Unless you were a subject of one of his felony cases, it was impossible not to like the late Ernest Smith, the veteran investigator with the Clark County district attorney's office whom most people called "Sly."

Smith was devoted to his career and worked quietly to improve the lives of others. The Vietnam veteran died Oct. 20 after a 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

Sly was a skilled baseball player and a member of the Screen Actors Guild with several credits. But he was better at organizing people. He was a founding member of the Clark County District Attorney's Investigators Association and helped start the annual police-firefighter baseball game that benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

His friend Joel Moskowitz, a former DA's investigator, was awed by Sly's selflessness.

"The day he died, I saw him early in the morning," Moskowitz recalled Thursday. "He knew I was a cancer survivor. He said, 'I know this was hard on you.' The man was dying, and he was only thinking of me. He was a wonderful man."

It's just like Sly to keep on contributing even after leaving the stage. The Smith Memorial Golf Tournament is scheduled for noon Monday, Feb. 26, at the Highland Falls Golf Course, with proceeds benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Shade Tree shelter for homeless and abused women and children.

GLIMMERING LIGHTS: Trish Geran has done the community a great service by writing "Beyond the Glimmering Lights: The Pride and Perseverance of African Americans in Las Vegas," which documents the struggle for civil rights in a community once called "the Mississippi of the West."

Geran will sign books and feature five of the people she interviewed for her project, published by Review-Journal corporate relative Stephens Press, at noon Saturday, Feb. 24, at the West Las Vegas Library.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Political friends of exiting Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates are trying to talk her into jumping back into the game, but she isn't having any of it. ... Don't tell me that in this era of political gotcha, an elected official attended a high-profile charitable event and neglected to disclose it.

Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? E-mail comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.