Notion of Victorville-to-Vegas rail route mind-boggling to skeptics

If rival promoters of high-speed Southern-California-to-Southern-Nevada rail systems think they're challenged by financing and politics, that's nothing compared with the mountain of skepticism they'll have to overcome.

Dozens of those skeptics contacted me after a recent column on the possibility a proposal by either the DesertXpress or the American Magline group eventually emerging the victor for the route that could possibly bring millions of Vegas visitors a year from Southern California.

Criticism of the DesertXpress plan focused on its Victorville-to-Vegas route.

Writes one, "When is the last time you heard someone say, 'Gee, I think I'll go to Victorville for vacation.' Never. And to expect someone to pay to rent a car, then drive at least an hour to LA or wherever someone actually would want to visit, drive all the way back to Victorville, and then hop on a train back to there is ludicrous."

Adds Fred Jones, "Isn't the idea of a train from Las Vegas to Victorville right up there with the Neonopolis and some of the other totally nutty ideas our elected officials have come up with (think Main Street Station, New City Hall, Mob Museum just to mention a few)?"

And a third: "I would love to ride a train to Southern California, but not a train that ends in Victorville. When I drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for years, the worst part of the drive was to I-15 then over Cajon Pass into Victorville. Once we reached Victorville we considered the rest of the trip to be easy."

Kenneth Record made a solid argument for bringing back Amtrak service to Las Vegas, where the Desert Breeze once made regular stops.

"The old route of the Desert Breeze remains blank," Record says. "Las Vegas will be the largest metropolitan area not served by a 79 mph line."

(A batch of entertaining letters on this and other topics will be published today on my blog at lvrj.com.)

TEA TIME: Dr. Joe Heck, who continues to work to illustrate his conservative credentials as he campaigns for governor against a conservative incumbent, joins the Independence Day Tea Party planned for 10 a.m. today at Desert Breeze Park at 8275 Spring Mountain Road.

Former North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon has also declared his candidacy on the Republican side against Gov. Jim Gibbons.

NLV COUNCIL: Community activist Richard Cherchio is the favorite to receive newly elected North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck's Ward 4 City Council seat, a reliable source tells me.

Cherchio isn't a lifelong North Las Vegas resident, but he's established himself as a credible activist in just a few years. Buck easily defeated Cherchio and others in her April 2007 re-election. She won 57 percent of the vote. Cherchio received 24 percent.

SUN GUN GONE: Las Vegas Sun Deputy Managing Editor Drex Heikes, who edited the newspaper's Pulitzer Prize-winning project, is leaving to become the editor of the LA Weekly. Heikes, a favorite with several of the Sun's top reporters, will be hard to replace.

RUVO INSTITUTE: Whether she's forwarding her philosophy of new approaches to public education or weighing in on behalf of a nonprofit organization, no one can doubt Maureen Peckman's energy and dedication to the task at hand.

Now she's been named the chief executive officer of Keep Memory Alive in its association with the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health downtown. She formerly served as Keep Memory Alive's chief operating officer.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera was recently spotted at Kabuki Japanese Restaurant at Town Square. Herrera gets his mail these days at a local halfway house after serving a majority of his 50-month federal prison sentence following a political corruption conviction.

BOULEVARD II: Remember the name Dr. Stanley Lowenbraun. He's the former Louisville oncologist who ran up millions in gambling debts to Las Vegas casinos, was a slave to his addiction, and according to the Louisville Courier-Journal committed suicide June 20 at the Las Vegas Hilton.

BOULEVARD III: Now that word is out the IRS is investigating the cash-for-customers business involving local strip clubs and cab and limo drivers, I hear several clubs are rapidly improving their bookkeeping skills.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith/.