If there is a hero in the murder of Mickie Costanzo, it must be Elko District Attorney Marc Torvinen.

Not for what he did, but for what he did not do.

Winning a death penalty case is a feather in the cap of any prosecutor and Torvinen had close to a slam dunk with Kody Patten.

Torvinen never had one and we know it might have been tempting with Toni Fratto’s confession to go for the kill.

Instead he offered Patten the same deal as before.

Marc won’t go into his reasons but we can speculate.

Yes it would have been a feather in his cap but on the other hand as a prosecutor he must have been aware of the almost obscene perversion of the death penalty in Nevada.

The unending appeals. The torture to the family of the victims.

And Marc Torvinen is simply too good a man to do that.

If the death penalty was ever enforced it might have been a different story.

But it is what it is.

So to those who are screaming for Mr. Torvinen’s blood in lieu of Kody Patten’s imagine in 30 years Kody Patten is pushing 50 lives peacefully in the wall to wall carpeted of death row. He may have even married one of the death sentence groupies who flock to death row inmates. He has just filed his 7th or 10th appeal. And the Costanzo family must once again travel to Las Vegas and relive the horror of March 3, 2011 all over again.

What does one say to a man who has saved you from that?

Thank you would be a good start.

To anyone doubting Toni Fratto’s involvement in the slaughter of Mickie Costanzo we invite them to read her deposition.

Words cannot express the horror it conveys, it must be read thoroughly, line by line. We are all entitled to an opinion but not to our own set of facts. Those that this monster in the guise of a 19 year old girl submits are revolting and no amount of tears or claims to victim hood or even future acts of contrition will erase one speck of that truly evil deed.

Click link below for Fratto’s full statement

Fratto – Proffer statement

There is a woman running for Senate in Massachusetts who claims to be a Native American because according to family legend she is or could be, one thirty second Cherokee.

So far no big deal, this being rural Nevada we know many seeming white folks who claim a fraction of Indian blood.

The thing is this erstwhile Pocahontas claimed it on her college application and her later job application to the various universities she worked at until finally arriving at Harvard. Being native American gave her a leg up on the competition thanks to Affirmative Action.

The many folks we know with Native American heritage would not dream of doing so. We know this because we asked them. And the universal answer was simply- “I got too much self respect to steal from a poor kid living on a reservation.”

None of our “Indian” friends will ever become law professors at Harvard.

They have too much self respect.

While part of us can understand Cassie Fratto’s pain at being the mother of a killer, her insistence that her daughter is also a victim in the brutal slaughter of Micaela Costanzo is revolting bordering on the obscene.

Toni Fratto may be many things but she is not a victim, she is a killer who as Mickie father Teddy told Judge Dan Papez “should never have anything good happen to her.”

The murder she helped commit was so brutal so without compassion it affected every human being in our city. We collectively as well as individually will never be the same again.

One could say we are all victims.

One would be wrong to say that.

There was only one victim is the slaughter of Mickie Costanzo, Mickie Costanzo. She died. The rest of us may feel such an acute grief over the loss of that beautiful 16 year old girl that getting up in the morning seems like a labor for Sisyphus, but at the end of the day we are still here, still alive and can still greet the sun and count the stars.

Such is life and we are still alive.

Mickie isn’t and thus has sole proprietorship of the word: Victim.

Eventually even for the Costanzo family the terrible pain Toni Fratto and Kody Patten caused them and this community will grow duller.

They and we will get on with our lives.

Mickie’s memory will always live on.

And if there is justice in this world Toni Fratto will be forgotten in a small gray prison cell.

Not a victim, a killer.

As for her mother, you  got your 15 minutes of fame, for the decency’s sake shut up.

Speaking of shutting up we come to Bryant Blake.

Mr. Blake the fat lady has sung; your very disappointing career as a West Wendover City Councilman is over; please resign with the teaspoon full of dignity that may remain for you.

While we understand the appeal of $600 a month, you announced your intention of leaving town as fast as humanly possible thus you should not be making decisions on issues that will affect us who remain for decades into the future.

Whatever you believe, whatever your philosophy is on any given issue absolutely irrelevant now.

Please go away and give your seat to somebody who plans to stick around in this city. Maybe it could be a bartender. One of the same group of people you want finger printed and investigated for the privilege of making a living in Wendover.

Levance Stewart had absolutley zilch going for him. poor, black and a criminal record. throw in the testimony of two deputies what would a rural nevada jury decide?

They found him not guilty because in their opinion the state did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Kind of makes us feel proud to be Americans.

If a picture is worth a thousand words what is the value of two pictures?

The two photos we have in mind are those of Anne and Mitt Romney and their five boys and Hilary Rosen her lesbian ex-partner and their two adopted black children.

We aren’t making judgments now. We are counting.

Anne and Mitt made five kids.

Hilary Rosen made none.

In giving birth and raising five children Anne Romney is not unusual.

While the birthrate among all American women of child bearing age is 2.1. The birthrate among religious women is 4.5.

Hilary Rosen is also not unusual. Despite the noise of the new ‘modern’ ways to have children, the birth rate among college educated lesbians is virtually nil and even with adopting someone else’s babies the average number of adopted kids per lesbian or homosexual couples is less than 1.

Indeed the heterosexual left’s birthrate is just slightly over 1.0.

Now any population be it panda bears or woodpeckers or people who produce fewer young than the adults will sooner or later become extinct.

Zoo keepers can try with artificial insemination to stem the flow, but the cold hard truth is you don’t make babies you are going extinct.

Its not a question of morality.

Its not about politics.

Its counting.

Five is more than none.

It always has been and always will be.

Of course there is no guarantee the Romney boys will be conservatives. But of the five that do they will have lots and lots of kids. Those that don’t won’t.

The battle for the future of America is being waged in the womb and the liberals have left the arena.

Sooner or later they won’t even be able to field a team.

The two older ones now 25 and almost 20 serve in combat units in the Israeli army (the older one is in the reserves).

People ask us all the time whether we worry about them.

Yes we do.

But we worried so much more when they were 17.

A cold shiver went up our spine every time they asked for the car keys to go out.

If they didn’t make it home when we told them to we began to worry and if they still didn’t get home we went out looking for them.

We tried to calm ourselves down hoping that they just lost track of time but we knew  that a 17 year old man/boy is probably the most likely to die stupidly than at any time in his life.

A long, long time ago we were 17 ourselves.

And like most 17 year olds we felt probably half of the body of law was written specifically to give cops a reason to hassle us.

As minors we were breaking the law if we drank, smoked or were out past the too early and arbitrarily imposed curfew, that magically disappeared at the stroke of midnight on our 18th birthday.

We were stopped at least a dozen times at 17. Stopped but not arrested because we were more afraid of father and what he would do to us if we were.

He told us what he would do in the TALK.

“I know you are feeling your oats,” he said. “You are young and strong and you think you are a bad ass. You ain’t and if you get hurt or killed and make your mother cry I will cut you n—s off.”

Few things get through to a 17 year old boy, but castration does.

We had the same TALK with our sons and it worked more or less. They survived being 17.

We don’t know if Treyvon Martin had the TALK with his dad. Or if he did, it obviously didn’t sink in otherwise he would not have gotten into a fist fight with a man who was packing.

Add or subtract five years to Martin’s age and no one dies. At 12 he would have been too scared and at 22 too smart to tangle with a man he was obviously taller and stronger than.

No such man ever starts a confrontation without having a bit of back up whether it be friends or a weapon.

It is a simple lesson but one that has to be learned sometimes the hard way.

And as for George Zimmerman?

We were 28 once ourselves and the only time we went packing and patrolling was because we were ready and willing to use it.

There are no heroes in this story.

But enough stupidity to go around.

When one is stupid at 28 someone gets killed.

When one is stupid at 17, one dies.

We still do not understand why JP candidate Brian Boatman wrote a character reference for confessed killer Toni Fratto.

While Fratto’s attorney were ecstatic to get one from the local Juvenile Probation officer most lawyers and judges agree that character letters have very little if any impact on a judge deliberating on a sentence, and the greater the crime the less impact a character reference has.

Surely Mr. Boatman must have been aware of that.

He also must have been aware of the needless pain his letter would cause the Costanzo family already suffering a year long nightmare of a murdered daughter.

Some two dozen people wrote letters wrote on behalf of Toni Fratto, we have the list and with the exception of Mr. Boatman all of the others all of others are either relatives or decades old friends of the family.

There is one other thing everyone on the list has in common except for Mr. Boatman, they aren’t running for public office.

While it may be incredible to imagine, we believe Mr. Boatman grossly underestimated the outrage his letter would cause.

When we talked to him before going to press last week he obviously was made aware of that anger.

We will take him at his word that he no longer has a copy of it albeit in the age of computers we still have grocery list from 2006 hiding somewhere in our own files.

And we believe him when he tells us that his and Toni Fratto’s mutual membership in the LDS church had nothing to do with his reference although many people’s knee jerk bigotry against Mormons will believe different.

But if that was the case Toni Fratto would have received a thousand letter of support and not the paltry 26.

So we ask again why write a character reference for a young woman who committed the most heinous crime in Wendover history?

The only answer we can come up with is phenomenally poor judgment.

Bryant Blake has been a disappointment since he assumed office. and he just keeps on disappointing.

We weren’t surprised when he defiantly said he would stay on the council until he actually left town.

How nice.

In that same meeting Blake voted to borrow $2.6 million for sewer upgrades to be paid off over the next 40 years.

He will be here for another four months at the most.

Thank goodness he doesn’t teach civics

We expect to receive assurances that if the city of West Wendover becomes the owner of Wendover Gas it will not sell its gas at a loss.

What’s the old saying fool us once shame on you, fool us twice shame on us.

We have lost count on how many times the citizens of West Wendover were fooled by assurances from local government that they would not have to pay for or suffer from the next big boondoggle, only to see the results on their property tax bills or increased fees for something or other.

Some of the biggest whoppers we remember include the golf course, the new city hall, the bus service, the sell off of city property at an ‘open’ auction only for the city council to change the rules after the auction was over.

There are probably many more some we forget and some we never found out.

And we will probably never find out about the price the city will charge for gas.

As a commodity it is bound to fluctuate and whose to say if the city is taking a loss or making a profit.

Yes we know the city will supply numbers and numbers on numbers.

We remember seeing numbers on virtually every project or deal the city has undertaken and any resemblance those predictions had with the truth were purely coincidental, if they happened at all.

There is a good way to tell if a private business is doing well in the market place. It either stays open or it closes.

With a public enterprise that law of the jungle is more of a suggestion.

At least it begins as a suggestion.

However if mismanagement becomes too much even publicly owned concerns will eventually fold.

it just takes a whole lot longer and it will take a lot of people with it.

As the election season begins we will miss Alfonso Orazco even more.

Every two years we would sit and stratagize on what we could do to increase the number of Latinos on the voting rolls.

And every two years we failed miserably.

Still we tried and every two years Alfonso would proclaim that this was the year. the issues local, statewide and nationally were so important that Wendover Latinos would flock to the polls.

He was always wrong but stayed optimistic.

What Alfonso could not do in life, perhaps he can accomplish with his death.

We can think of no better tribute to the man if that wave of latino voters he had so longed for would register this year for his memory.

Si se pueda!!!

Dear Mr. Copelan,

Thank you for giving Peppermill the opportunity to respond to your March 9, 2012 article   under the headline, “Green Surrenders To City Buy Out of Gas Company” and the sub-headline “Claims Business Killed By Boycott.”

The entire story is premised on the false assumption that a “boycott” by the Peppermill “killed” Ms. Green’s business. This assumption is supported by the Receiver’s statement that Ms. Green’s company “has not sold a liter of gas to any business owned by the Peppermill in quite some time.” This statement was false and you should have verified its accuracy before publishing the story.

Although it never made economic sense for Peppermill’s casino properties to purchase piped propane from Wendover Gas Company, Peppermill continued to use Wendover Gas Company to service its non-casino properties. In fact, Peppermill’s non-casino properties have been customers of Wendover Gas Company for more than a decade. This easily verifiable fact proves there is no Peppermill “boycott” of Ms. Green. Since the Receiver’s false statement fit nicely into the anti-Peppermill narrative you chose not to even attempt to verify its accuracy before publishing the story. Had you sought to confirm this false statement with the Peppermill prior to publication you could have avoided publishing the false and misleading story.

Like Peppermill’s casino properties, the residents in Wendover, Utah (and some in Nevada) have also determined that piped propane is not a cost effective alternative for them. As a result, Ms. Green’s underground pipelines in Wendover, Utah have gone unused. This fact was referenced at the March 6, 2012 City Council hearing, but was not mentioned in your article. These residents and businesses were not alleged to be part of a “boycott” to “kill” Ms. Green’s business.

Since it is implausible to blame a company’s financial troubles on the loss of a customer more than ten years ago, you attempted to shore up the false narrative with this statement: “While at first the boycott was painful the loss of two casinos customers was survivable given the four other major properties were with Wendover Gas. Then the Peppermill began to expand and as the company began to buy its competitors the number of clients on Green’s books began to contract.”

The Silver Smith and State Line casinos filed for bankruptcy in January of 2002. Following approval of the bankruptcy court later that year Peppermill acquired the Silver Smith property and another party acquired the State Line property. Contrary to your statement, the acquisition of the Silver Smith by the Peppermill had no effect on Wendover Gas Company. The Silver Smith had its own propane tanks before the acquisition. Peppermill kept servicing the property through its own propane tanks after the acquisition. This acquisition, nearly ten years ago, was also not the cause of Wendover Gas Company’s financial troubles.

Following the loss of the Peppermill as a customer in 2001, Ms. Green continued to operate her business until October of 2008 when the company was placed in receivership. The Peppermill is not responsible for the failure of her business, nor should it be obligated to subsidize her business by paying uncompetitive prices.

This leads to the next theme of your article, again supported by an unchallenged quote from the Receiver, alleging if “Peppermill had approved of LNG system they would have saved $200,000 this winter alone.”  Some of Peppermill’s problems with the proposed LNG system were described in its March 14, 2012 status report in the Wendover Gas Company receivership proceeding.  Initially, the LNG proposal was not from Wendover Gas Company and it was unclear what entities would be selling the LNG to Peppermill and how they would relate to Wendover Gas Company. The individuals making the proposal stated approximately $2 million would need to be invested to purchase a “gasification facility” in Wendover but it was unclear how that would be financed or who would own the facility. The individuals making the proposal stated they had no experience running an LNG facility for a municipality and they could only give a few examples of similar systems in operation. In order to switch to LNG the Peppermill would have to incur an estimated $487,500 in conversion costs, including the replacement of two boilers that could not be converted without losing factory maintenance and warranties. The Peppermill would then be relying upon an unnamed “seller” to supply its critical energy needs, transporting LNG long distances over difficult mountain ranges. The savings estimates were uncertain, but it was clear it would take a long time to recover the conversion costs even it everything went as planned. The proposal was far from the risk-free deal it was represented to be.

These are a few examples of the false and misleading statements in your story. Taken as a whole, your story gives the entirely misleading impression that a “boycott” by the Peppermill is the cause of Wendover Gas Company’s financial troubles.

It is Ms. Green who now desires to sell her business to the City, subject to an agreement on the appraised price. That decision is not being forced on her by the City, the Peppermill or others. Perhaps Ms. Green’s proposed sale to the City is the best option given the City’s potential access to low cost financing unavailable to private parties.  Perhaps she could sell to another private company. However one thing seems clear, Ms. Green’s company has been in receivership for over three years and that cannot continue forever.

Thank you for the opportunity to express our views and clarify this matter.

Sincerely,

William Paganetti

President

We lost a good friend this week and Wendover lost a treasure in the passing of Alfonso Orozco.

A loving husband, devoted father, savvy businessman and reluctant political leader Alfonso was first and foremost a mensch. That is a decent human being.

He was not without his faults but he embraced them as a mensch will rather than make excuses or prevaricate or pretend they were not there and that made him more human.

We and our children will miss him greatly and long after most of us are forgotten stories will still be said of Alfonso.

Even now as we write these words we are smiling and we cannot think of a better tribute. We will always smile when we think of him.

As the cinco de mayo draws near we think it is only fitting that this year’s celebration be dedicated to him. the man may have passed but his legacy should live on.

We hear there is interest for to buy Wendover Gas.

We hope it comes to more than interest.

We don’t believe the city should purchase and run the gas company because beyond anything else we know it will do it badly. And then hide it so no one could no just how badly it is running it.

Eventually the publicly owned gas company will become a political football. A bastion of folly and incompetence with the requisite back stabbing, petty one ups-manship, and possibly out right mismanagement public enterprise is so famous for.

No we are not using our psychic abilities we are finally old enough to look back a long line of city enterprises to realize running a business is above and beyond its capabilities.

There is also something so fundamentally unfair about this whole sorry story that should be grossly apparent to everyone.

Let’s say there is a city takeover and let’s say that lo and behold all the casinos turn on their gas lines. Voila the company goes into the black. The city manager can give a glowing report on just how good the idea to buy the formerly boycotted business was.

Everyone is happy except of course for Nancy Green who paid for it, built it, and maintained it only to lose it because she rubbed some people the wrong way.

The city got a prize, the casinos get cheap gas and Nancy Green got the shaft.

Isn’t that special?

Add Wendover Gas to the long list of businesses in Wendover that were forced to leave, sell out or go bankrupt not because a bad business plan but because their owners ran afoul of the Peppermill.

It is a sad story repeated more times than we care to count and we hope that conditions will change just enough to make it the last one. We have our hopes but still we doubt it.

If it does not strike one as fundamentally unfair and bordering on the obscene then one does not have a heart.

Here is a woman who put her heart and soul into a dream only to have it slowly squeezed lifeless.

Yes Wendover’s largest employer has a right to spend its money where it wants, but come on does it have to be so nasty about it?

Of course the worst betrayal was not from the financial giants on the hill, but the moral midgets in city hall.

With smiles on their faces and cheerful greetings they broke her heart and her spirit.

We would say shame on them but if the last ten years or so taught us anything we have learned they have no shame.

Our city council lost us a tax payer but on the bright side it will add even more employees to an already bloated over pensioned payroll.

First up they will probably create a new department head with a six figure salary to manage the new city asset.

Then they will have to staff it and pay salaries, pensions, health care that are much more generous than the private sector and will probably eat through all the profits that little company can generate.

Of course we will be told that the city is actually running it better than Nancy Green ever did.

They won’t be able to prove it, but we will be told it nevertheless.

This is an election year and with it comes the golden opportunity to throw the bums out. We do have our hopes but still we doubt it.

We only asked of every voters before they cast a ballot to drive through town start and take a gander at every closed and shuttered place of business that was once run by a former friend or neighbor or even an acquaintance.

A city of 5,000 residents should have more than 74 local businesses much more.

Ask yourself why? Better yet ask Nancy Green or Steve Weinstein or any of the dozens of dreamers who have long since left Wendover without their dreams.