Just in time for the new show, Vegas, a dramatic series on CBS this fall, the LA Times profiles Sheriff (he will always be sheriff to us though he hasn't worn the badge in over thirty five years) Ralph Lamb. In the new series, Ralph will be portrayed by Dennis Quaid and the series will focus on the fictional battle between Lamb and Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis) while exploring the oasis in the desert as it was in the 1960s (at least we hope they do).
Back then, Las Vegas and Sheriff Lamb didn't rate high enough to be profiled by the LA Times but fifty years later, it's a whole different story:
From the LA Times:
LAS VEGAS — The first thing you notice about Sheriff Ralph Lamb is that voice — the low, gravelly growl of a former five-pack-a-day Marlboro man. Even at age 85, Lamb still uses the plain-spoken utterances of an old-school lawman.
On his disdain of firearms: "Sometimes we had to use our guns, but sparingly. If a guy shot at me, I'd shoot back."
And on his public image: "The church-goin' people in town, the good people, they liked my brand of law and order — keepin' things cleaned up."
He was known as the Cowboy Sheriff and once was considered the most powerful man in Nevada. In the 1960s and '70s, the longtime rancher and rodeo rider served as the sheriff of Clark County — which back then was about the closest thing America had to the Old West, with gangsters substituting for gunslinging cowboys.
For more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-vegas-sheriff-20120720,0,7911575.story