This statement has many meanings in Las Vegas. Just what does stays in Las Vegas mean? Does anything stay in Las Vegas? Of course the establishment of the town hopes that something of everyone stays in the town and you will want to return. If part of your heart stays in Vegas they will have you forever.

Undoubtedly what the authorities believe this statement to mean is that all money that comes to Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Whatever money that crosses the Las Vegas border must be extracted from anyone that has it in their possession and safely transferred into the possession of the gambling companies. The only circumstance where money can leave Las Vegas is in the form of cash inside a well guarded bank van to where it will  be taken to a Bank in California where it wlll be exchanged for a Bankers Certificate. This Bank Document will have a certain value and will be accepted as legal tender by any government or banking authority. But has the benefit of not being able to be traced.

The main objective of Las Vegas is to relieve all visitors of their money. And for all visitors to be happy to be relieved of their cash. Do it with pleasure. Everyone can have a good time.

No matter how rich or poor you are there will be a representative of the gambling industry waiting to take care of you. To guide you on your way. To help you find your own gambling table. Your own slot machine.

Las  Vegas could be called a city of people who are different.

My interest in Las Vegas was imparted to me by an English acquaintance who was obsessed with Las Vegas. He had gone there first in the early 60’s thinking he might get a job at the University of Las Vegas. It was a scam and the university consisted of one room in a back street. The Chancellor was later convicted of mail fraud. But while my friend was there he took a helicopter ride and made a short cine camera film. After I watched it my comment was - Is it that small! ?  "Yes!" he said, "It's really only two blocks."

Las Vegas was portrayed even at that point as being a large city with lots of bright lights and bustling traffic. Many large buildings. In the harsh light of day when the film was taken it seemed to be one street and a loose scattering of buildings surrounded by desert. A distinct absence of traffic. The fabled Sands Hotel was out of town and was indeed surrounded by sand and sand was a problem. Sand was continually getting inside the building. What the patrons made of Noel Coward singing 'Mad Dogs and Englishman go out in the Midday Sun' can only be imagined. But Las Vegas was always good at merging culture with entertainment.

My friend went to Las Vegas every year if he could. He had been married in Las Vegas three times - twice to the same girl. This seemed very un-English to me at the time.

My favourite Las Vegas person is an eccentric middle aged man who lives inside a culvert that is under the highway leading into town. He collects newspapers that have been thrown out of cars and keeps them inside his culvert home. In neat rows. He describes himself as an environmentalist. He is devoting his life to this purpose. He  explains he is making a study of the changes in the environment. He makes some money by collecting bottles and redeeming them at the council tip.

Las Vegas was not always a gambling town. Indeed for a time all gambling was forbidden. One complication was that the city stretched over two separate local government areas. The first casinos appeared only in the second local government area. Las Vegas started as a Railway Station. It was a staging post for the military during the war. Soldiers gambled to waste away the time waiting to be moved. The casinos developed from these humble beginnings.

Las Vegas always had several problems. The government of Nevada considered themselves to be a southern state and had a policy of strict segregation. The city fathers followed the policy with enthusiasm. Any African American who came to the town had to live in a designated area and was not permitted to go downtown, let alone enter any of the gaming houses. However the designated areas for coloured people was in the area that permitted gambling and this was how some casinos started. Eventually gambling was permitted in all of Las Vegas and  THE STRIP was extended to include all of Las Vegas.
 
Segregation sometimes had inconvenient unintended consequences. When the mob bought into hotels they sometimes wanted to hire coloured staff. They thought it was more classy to have a coloured maitre d in a striking uniform standing at the front door welcoming guests to the hotel. They wanted coloured waiters inside their hotels. They wanted coloured maids. This brought them into conflict with the city authorities. Not that they allowed coloured people to stay in their hotels. They didn;t go that far. But they did have coloured entertainers headlining in their large rooms. In the end it was claimed that Frank Sinatra desegregated Las Vegas. Sammy Davis had a severe car accident and the ambulance could not find a hospital that would accept him. Hospitals were segregated. There was no hospital for coloured people in Las Vegas. Frank Sinatra used his influence to change things.

Later on some hotels wanted to hire only Mormons. The hotel owners claimed this as  their civil right. They argued that it was their right to hire any type of ethnic group they wanted. It was a matter of freedom. They should be free to do this. Later on the Civil Rights Act stopped this behaviour to a large extent.

Las Vegas has developed into a large scale entertainment city. It is still however, a city where there is not much evidence of people of colour.

Las Vegas is a continuing civil experiment. It will continue to experiment trying to exact the science of what comes to Vegas stays in Vegas. It will continue to do so. Will the science ever be perfected?

The colour of money  is green. The town is no longer officially segregated. Corruption is no longer evident. Well not flagrantly.  But money can still arrange most things.

It means to stay in Las Vegas.


Neville Gibb
July 2023

My wife and I hired a car and drove around England and Scotland.

We started in Yorkshire England. We did the TV tours of James Herriot and the Yorkshire Dales. Then the Heartbeat tour of PC Nick Rowan, the English Bobby who moved to a small village station near the Yorkshire Moors.

We are now heading north into Scotland. We reached Edinburgh and obviously went to Edinburgh Castle. We went onto the Castle carpark area where they hold the Edinburgh Tattoo each year. It was pouring rain; it was cold, and we didn’t stay very long. We moved down the road to a Coffee shop and whilst we drank our coffee, we wrote a few postcards to send back to Australia. We spent the night in a B & B in Edinburgh. Then the next morning we headed north along the East coast road to Aberdeen then across country towards Inverness.
 
The plan was to arrive in Inverness at a reasonable hour and spend the night there.

We had a busy day travelling and sightseeing. It was getting dark, and we still had quite a way to go before we would reach Inverness. I said to my wife, “we need to look out for a B & B, we are not going to make it to Inverness at a reasonable hour to get accommodation tonight”.

Not long after that we saw a B & B sign in the middle of nowhere, a farmhouse on the side of the road. We did a quick U-turn and went into the farm’s driveway. We were barely out of the car when a little elderly lady came running towards us. “Quick, Quick,” she was saying in her very Scottish accent. “Over here, in the barn”. We thought straight away, there was something wrong, some sort of emergency. So we rushed over to the barn and followed the lady in. There were two men inside, standing next to a small cow but bigger than a calf.  On the ground was a small heap of something. All sorts of things raced through our heads. What is that?, we thought.

The men were talking to each other in very Scottish accents. “It’s too small” one said, “I have never seen one so small”. “How did it happen, it’s impossible” the other man said. “I have been a vet for a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like it”.  Then the lady spoke, “Will it survive?” she asked. “Doubt it, too small” the apparent vet said. We got closer, nobody spoke to us. The small bundle was still in a heap on the ground. “What is it?” I asked. “A calf” the lady said. Then went on to repeat what the men had been talking about, explaining how the mother cow was so small and so young but had somehow become pregnant and had just had this bundle on the ground. Her calf.

“It's a miracle if it survives”, they were all saying.  I had seen newborn calves before, but this was small like a lamb, not a calf.

We went inside, had a meal, then went to bed.

The next morning we went into the kitchen. The lady saw us and said “Come on” she said. “It’s survived”. We went out to the barn. The two men were still standing near the cow, the calf was sucking away on the mother. The men had been there all night. A lot happier and chirpier than last night when we arrived. We finally got to talk with them. They were so excited, proud and surprised. It was History and a miracle to them.

The miracle occurred and History was made. We finally got to our destination in Inverness. We sat down for a meal and watched the Six O’clock news. There on the news right in front of us were two small men, a small elderly lady and a small cow with the smallest calf ever born in Scotland.


Phil Hughes
July 2023

​When I attended my first Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1985, of the 23 scrutineers from Australia to work at this event, I was the only female scrutineer to be selected.   We stayed in a caravan park for the GP weekend, sharing caravans and ensuites.
 
We had a wonderful time being part of our first Grand Prix as well as walking around Adelaide after the event closed for the day.     As is often the case when away from home, there was a lot of chiacking and laughing, lots of fun and memories made.
 
Moving onto the annual Scrutineers Christmas function that year, where all members of the families were in attendance, I worked my way around the group as I had not seen some of the families for a time, not only mixing with my fellow scrutineers but their wives, girlfriends, and children, and of course the new babies, as well.
 
I noticed that when I was on my own and speaking with the wives of fellow AGP mates, suddenly the respective husband would appear and join in the conversations that we were having.
 
This had never happened at previous functions, as I got on well with the families, enjoyed meeting with them and was well accepted by the wives and girlfriends.     The sudden appearance of the scrutineer husband happened several times and I was getting concerned that I had done something to upset the guys.
 
Then the penny dropped!    When we were in Adelaide and we were walking around, guys being guys would make comments regarding any good-looking female that passed by etc.    In those days some of the comments were a little risqué, but it was all in good fun.    I enjoyed their banter but was very careful not to make any comment myself as I learnt very early in my scrutineering days that it was OK for the men to comment, but not for me.   (I made a comment about a well-known blonde female at a major race event saying that she was nicely dressed and looked good, but it was a pity that she didn’t visit the hairdresser during the week and get the dark roots of her hair done – this did not go down well with the guys and I had a quick lesson in when to keep my opinions to myself!!!)
 
Back to the Christmas function.   Once I realised what was going on, one by one I made my way around all the AGP guys and quietly said to them that I hope they understood what happened in Adelaide stayed in Adelaide, not only at the track and our outings at night, but also at the after-event dinner dance which we all attended until well into the early morning following the Grand Prix.    I felt the mood changed with the guys and I was able to enjoy the Scrutineers Christmas function as I am sure the guys were now able to do.
 
I was always treated well by the guys, and they had no concerns with me going to the AGP or other events that we attended.
 
Heather Wallace
July 2023