Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Brothel owner responds; wireless convention brings in 40,000

Dennis Hof, owner of one of Nevada's legal brothels, has weighed in on a proposal for the state to ease its budget troubles by imposing a $5 per-day excise tax on customers of prostitutes.

"The Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel is one of the highest taxpayers in Lyon County with over six figures paid annually compared to chain fast-food restaurants who sell millions of burgers annually and only pay in a couple hundred dollars annually,'' Hof's company said in a statement. "Why should prostitutes' earnings be further taxed and not the fast food restaurants?''

Hof seldom misses a chance for free publicity and likely fired off the press release in hopes that you'd be reading this.

But he has a point.

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Despite the recession, tens of thousands of executives and techies from the cell phone, smart phone and wireless industry are in town for the annual CTIA Wireless convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

CTIA Wireless Convention

CTIA Wireless 2009 is underway at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Launch slideshow »

And perhaps just as importantly for the city: The Las Vegas dateline is appearing in news reports around the globe. Las Vegas, as with many conventions, is the backdrop as industry announcements are made by the likes of Microsoft, Clearwire, T-Mobile, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, Verizon and AT&T. More stories are likely today when former Vice President Al Gore speaks to the show attendees.

At a time when visitor numbers to Las Vegas are off sharply and hotel-casinos and their employees are hurting, it's helpful for the world to see that Las Vegas remains a good place to meet for business.

Rob Mesirow, vice president and show director for CTIA-The Wireless Association, said final numbers aren't in but that going into the show it was expected that attendance would be off by about 10 percent from last year's 40,000 people. The number of exhibitors, about 1,000, is also off about 10 percent.

"All you're really losing are the speculators. The core marketplace is here,'' he said Thursday.

The show will return for the final year of its current contract next March 23-25; and Mesirow said he hopes to reach a deal for the convention to stay in Las Vegas after that.

"We have a great relationship with the city of Las Vegas,'' he said.

Show attendees, who during the recent boom years in Las Vegas were complaining about high hotel room rates, are now paying much less at a time when many companies have cut their travel budgets.

"There needed to be a correction,'' Mesirow said of the hotel rates.

A big concern, though, is a lack of taxis to serve the conventioneers.

"We can't seem to get enough cabs to serve the group,'' he said.

Mesirow said he heard from taxi drivers about how slow business has been for them because of the recession, but then, "I've got 2,000 people standing in line waiting for taxis.''

It's no secret when big conventions are coming to town. So that's a matter that should be addressed by Nevada taxi regulators, who limit the number of cabs on the street.

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Gordon Silver, a Nevada law firm, announced that for the 25th consecutive year, Dominic P. Gentile was named one of the nation’s Preeminent Lawyers by "Best Lawyers in America," a respected lawyer-rating directory.

"To say that Dominic Gentile, who leads our Government Investigations and Business Crimes Group, has been the most highly regarded criminal attorney in the state of Nevada is an extraordinary understatement. For two decades he has been the ‘go to’ attorney in this legal discipline, and we are both proud and gratified to have him recognized nationally as such,'' said Gregory Garman, managing partner at Gordon Silver.

Gentile is a member and served two terms on the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is active in the First Amendment Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association, having chaired its Criminal Justice Section's RICO Cases Committee and served on its Defense Function, White Collar Crimes and Grand Jury Committees. He has also served two terms as a Governor of the State Bar of Nevada, and is a charter member of the Nevada Supreme Court Bench-Bar Committee.

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The Teamsters Union announced that First Transit workers in Oceanside, Calif., and Las Vegas have voted in three elections to join the union. The 153 new members consist of Las Vegas drivers, mechanics, fuelers and bus washers; Las Vegas customer service representatives; and Oceanside drivers and mechanics.

Workers with First Transit in Las Vegas, who provide 24-hour shuttle services for car rental agencies at McCarran International Airport, are now members of Local 631 in Las Vegas.

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JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Summerlin will host the annual Summerlin Bridal Show on April 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Grand and Marquis Ballrooms in the Conference Center. Vendors range from florists, photographers and entertainers to wedding venues, bakeries and gown boutiques.

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Colliers International – Las Vegas announced it finalized its first pre-lease at Arroyo South Business Center (Phase 1), a 389,000-square-foot, master-planned industrial/office complex on the northwest corner of Rainbow Boulevard and Warm Springs Road.

Spencer Pinter of Colliers and Susan Wincn of EJM Development Co., the project developer, negotiated the pre-lease of a 9,000-square-foot industrial unit, which will include approximately 2,725 square feet of office/showroom space with the balance being warehouse space for storage and distribution purposes. Colliers said the tenant, Everything Medical, is a Nevada-based retailer and distributor of general medical supplies. The five-year deal is worth $514,250.

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Click to enlarge photo

Marilyn S. Burrows

Cox Communications Inc. named Marilyn S. Burrows senior vice president and general manager of Cox Communications, Las Vegas. Burrows succeeds Leo Brennan, previous senior vice president and general manager of the Las Vegas system, who became chief operating officer of Atlanta-based Cox in December.

Burrows most recently served as vice president and general manager of Cox Communications in Roanoke, Va.

She joined Cox in 2004 from Time Warner Cable’s National Division in Denver, where she was vice president, Online Services.

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Congresswoman Shelley Berkley is being honored by many of the nation’s healthcare companies with the Healthcare Leadership Council’s (HLC) "Gateway to Innovation" award. The award will be presented at a ceremony on April 7 at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center.

Recipients of the "Gateway to Innovation" award are selected by HLC, a coalition of chief executives of many of the nation’s leading healthcare companies and organization representing all healthcare sectors. "The award is presented to members of Congress who demonstrate commitment, leadership and vision in working to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare in the United States,'' the HLC said in a statement.

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