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Recent Events and Updates

Church Plans on Volunteer.  

While the BLM deadline of 19 November for Comments is fast approaching, the City of Henderson has taken what appears to be a preemptive move to quell Sun City Anthem concerns before the Church’s plans become a hot issue for the City. Prior to seeking City approval for their proposed location abutting Sun City, the Church must first obtain BLM approval. Now we are informed that City officials have recently met with Church officials to discuss the possibility of securing an alternate, more acceptable location for their Church. To read the City’s open letter to Sun City homeowners, Click here.  

Tree Slasher Convicted.

Sun City resident Douglas Hoffman was convicted Friday on seven felony counts and three gross misdemeanor counts. Sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday, 4 December.

Mr. Hoffman, who had been caught in the act of trolling for trees miles from his home with a saw in hand, had placed his fate in the hands of a jury in the likely belief that he could count on at least one person to believe his story of innocence. Refusing a plea deal, he lost that gambit big time on Friday. Click here to read a more complete report from the Las Vegas Review Journal, dated 10 Nov.

Now all Mr. Hoffman has to do is to convince the court that he is destitute, thereby making him unable to make any restitution for the considerable damage that was done to 546 trees, valued at an estimated at $242,000. That ploy was already tried by Mr. Hoffman the first time around and was thwarted when he applied to have the Public Defender’s office represent him at trial. No doubt he will plead poverty again.

One can assume that Hoffman’s alleged million dollar estate holdings have dwindled considerably since his capture as his remaining assets, one assumes, have been adroitly placed in this or that close family trust, presumably out of the court’s reach. Whether that pretrial planning will pay off for Mr. Hoffman will have to be seen.

The saga of securing justice is far from over.

Murder Will Out. 

Or will it? While bad deeds are not for long kept secret, what does justice demand in the case of murder, or to be more accurate, alleged murder. The case of Sun City’s master bridge player Lou Stanley, aka Louis Wiechecki, may or may not be resolved next month in a pretrial sentencing conference in the Superior Court of Orange County, CA set for 17 December.

Looking to avoid trial on this 33 year old case, the defendant will again be seeking a motion of dismissal on the murder charge over the issue of whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed. That reality appears to be taking its toll since there has been a problem in securing any resolution in the case over the past year. While the court record shows a number of pretrial conferences occurring, one gathers that none have resulted in any agreement to proceed to trial or to dismiss the case.

For those unfamiliar with this case, see my prior article on this pending case:  http://www.scaview.org/StanleyCase.html

Kitec Update

In a recent newsletter, I alluded to the City's failure to approve plastic transition fittings. I wish to make clear that that scenario occurred in a job where the contractor was performing "a fittings only" job. In that case, the homeowner decided to replace only the fittings and not to replace the Kitec piping. As a result, the homeowner will continue to use the existing underground Kitec pipe. While both the homowner and the contractor assumed the City would approve the work, the City concluded that the choice of a plastic (Engineered Plastic) transition fitting, although manufactured by Ipex (Kitec), did not conform to their plumbing code requirements.

Repiping: The City’s “Warranty” Services. 

Eventually everyone in Sun City will have to perform that dreaded plumbing task at least once, sadly some more often than others. When we do so, there is an implied assumption, akin to a warranty, that the work was done correctly. Otherwise, why was the job inspected by the City.

While the City performs an inspection, their inspection is merely cursory, presumably designed to assure that the work was performed to City code requirements. While major problems should be caught, are they?

Here is a story from a elderly widow, who learned that one cannot always rely on the City to find serious mistakes. The name of the plumbing contractor was not disclosed. Nor do we have any information on how many other repiping jobs were performed by this crew who the contractor claimed had "cut corners."   

When residents are having their plumbing repaired, a City of Henderson inspector must come to the job site after every phase of the work is done. I had three City inspectors when my house was repaired in April '07.

I believe that no matter who the contractor is, the inspectors must make sure that the materials used and the work is correct and up to code.

In September, however, I discovered that I had no water pressure in an area of the house that I did not use during the summer. Friends had noticed other problems as well.

I immediately contacted the contractor. He informed me that the crew leader who directed the workers had "cut corners," and, therefore, he no longer worked for them.

The pipes were the wrong size, valves were not replaced, the washing machine was affected, etc. etc.

The contractor sent another crew with new materials, they had to do about 60% of the job all over again.

My question is: what gives? How come the city inspectors approved the work, back in April?