Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Former mayor joins Olympic torchbearers

Former Mayor Ron Lurie and three others from Las Vegas were chosen this week to join a group of torchbearers for the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.

Lurie was one of four local residents chosen through the Coca-Cola "Who Would You Choose?" program.

The four residents, who were nominated by others in the local community, will carry the Olympic flame through Las Vegas on May 1.

They will be joined by four local Olympians and 50 others from Southern Nevada who two months ago were chosen by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and United Way of Southern Nevada as "Community Hero" torchbearers.

Beginning in Los Angeles April 27, and going through Nevada May 1, the Olympic Torch Relay concludes July 19 in Atlanta during the opening ceremony of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

Olympic spirit to be shared

Kimberly Goolsby of Coca-Cola said the four people chosen this week through a program sponsored by the soft drink company "will share the Olympic spirit" with others in the community.

"To me, this is the truest essence of the Olympics," Goolsby said. "The closest most of us get to the Olympics is sitting home and watching them on television. The Olympic Torch relay represents the one true opportunity for all Americans to share in the Olympic spirit."

The other three Las Vegas residents selected through the "Who Would You Choose?" program are: George Lyles, 51, Marcia Niska, 51, and 13-year-old Nathan Snyder.

Lyles is the father of Melissa Lyles, who was killed Dec. 20, 1995, at the age of 18 in an automobile accident at Torrey Pines Drive and Hacienda Avenue.

"My wife, Olga, nominated me to carry the torch as a tribute to our daughter, and that's what I'll be doing," said Lyles, a Las Vegas attorney, who explained that the entire family attended the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Durango valedictorian

Melissa, who graduated as valedictorian of Durango High School's first senior class, and who served as vice president of the student body for clubs and organizations, had planned to attend the Olympics in Atlanta with the rest of her family.

"Melissa will be with us in spirit this summer in Atlanta," Olga Lyles states in her letter nominating her husband as a torchbearer.

Snyder, a seventh-grader at Grant Sawyer Middle School, was nominated by his 11-year-old brother, Daniel, a fifth-grader at Frank Kim Elementary School.

"Danny wanted to be a torchbearer, but he was too young, so he nominated Nathan," said Carol Snyder, the boys' mother.

Nathan will join his sister, Stacy Snyder, 16, a 10th-grader at Durango High School, who was selected two months ago as a "Community Hero" torchbearer for her community and charitable work.

The younger generation

"Both Nathan and Stacy are very pleased that they will represent the younger generation when they carry the torch," Carol Snyder said. "It's something they will remember for the rest of their lives."

Niska, a counselor at Horizon South High School, was nominated by one of her students.

"There couldn't be a greater honor than being named a torchbearer," Niska said. "To me, the Olympic Torch Relay symbolizes the absolute essence of the human spirit and of people united."

Lurie, director of marketing at Arizona Charlie's, was nominated by hotel executive Sandy Becker, assistant director of marketing, for Lurie's contributions as mayor, city councilman and as past president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas.

The former mayor, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, is also well-known for his involvement in a controversial deal for 55 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in northwest Las Vegas with partners that included former City Manager Ashley Hall and several prominent Las Vegas businessmen.

The disclosure of the land deal in 1990 was followed by Hall's resignation and Lurie's decision not to run for re-election. The state Ethics Commission later ruled that Lurie had violated state law by voting on zoning changes without disclosing his interest in the property.

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