How Lamb met boy who played a central role in his life
A celebration of life is scheduled today for former Clark County Sheriff Ralph Lamb. And what a helluva life it was.
He survived some tough years as the head of Southern Nevada law enforcement and lived long enough to see a television series loosely based on his life.
Lamb was a country boy born in Alamo who became a legend in Las Vegas, but he never lost his connection with ranching. And he pitched in to help his family get by after his father was killed in a horse accident at a Tonopah rodeo. He talked about it during an interview for my book “Vegas Voices.”
“I’ll never forget my mother on the Fourth of July 1938 when she got handed that telegram about my dad,” Lamb said. “He’d been killed trying to save a kid on a runaway horse at a Tonopah rodeo. I just imagined later in life, after my kids were born, how tough it must have been. From day to day she didn’t know if she’d have enough food to feed them kids or not. She worked every day of her life for her kids. She’d mop those old linoleum floors. She’d mop them on her hands and knees.
“But it made us all responsible. He was a young man — 40. It was one of them things. Later in years, I went in the Army when I was 17. Joining the Army is what kind of got me started in being around the police, you know. In the Army, I was in Korea after the war (WW II), repatriating all them people to their right countries. I ran into this boy. We were sitting in this old shack, the kind where they take grass and make a little house out of it.
“He said to me, ‘Where are you from?’ I said, ‘Nevada.’ He said, ‘So am I.’ And it was that kid that was on the runaway horse that my dad had saved. It nearly scared him to death for a minute. I guess he’d lived with that all the time. It wasn’t his fault. He was just a kid then.”
Lamb’s life celebration is set for 1 p.m. today at the LDS Church at 10550 W. Alta Drive.
PRESIDENTIAL SUITE?: Not exactly, at least not yet. But Hillary for Nevada on Thursday opened its headquarters at 501 S. Rancho Drive, Suite A-3.
Among the Democrats who turned out to cheer the opening were Senate Minority Leader Aaron Ford and Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani.
Candidate Clinton already has made two trips to Las Vegas this year.
‘MOB COP’: Fans of mobster stories will want to grab a copy of the foul-mouthed but fascinating memoir of Fred Pascente, the corrupt former Chicago cop who was tight with Tony Spilotro and a host of Las Vegas ne’er-do-wells. Written with novelist Sam Reaves, the book is titled “Mob Cop: My Life of Crime in the Chicago Police Department.”
A friend and business partner of former Crazy Horse Too boss Rick Rizzolo, Pascente also was a member of Nevada’s casino Black Book.
Pascente died in 2014, so I’m guessing the book tour is out.
ON THE BOULEVARD: Nevada brothel baron Dennis Hof, who has spent his career surrounded by prostitutes, apparently can’t get enough of that atmosphere. Now Mr. Moonlite Bunny Ranch says he’s considering taking a run at the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Minority Leader Harry Reid. … Investors who lost a bundle in the defunct and bankrupt Aspen Mortgage under the management of Jeff Guinn probably have seen the last of their money. But they haven’t heard the last of the case, which figures to haunt the son of late Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn for some time to come.
Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? Email comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. Find him on Twitter: @jlnevadasmith
