Vegas Briefs

Monday, July 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

SUN STAFF REPORTS

* NO VALLEY FATALITIES -- Bucking a trend, no one was killed in traffic accidents over the four-day Fourth of July weekend in the Las Vegas Valley. "It's the safest holiday weekend we've had in a long time," said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Harney. A survey by the state Office of Traffic Safety last week found that Independence Day was the deadliest holiday on Nevada highways the past three years. Harney credited the NHP's DUI saturation team and other jurisdictions' efforts in "making a difference in keeping our roadways safe." Two people were killed in traffic accidents in the Las Vegas area during last year's Fourth of July weekend.

* BODIES DISCOVERED -- Two bodies were discovered in desert areas surrounding Las Vegas over the weekend. Officials are trying to identify a white man in his late 30s whose body was found by a hiker at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Boy Scout Canyon area of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, about two miles from Hoover Dam on the Nevada side. It wasn't known yet whether the man died of natural causes or was the victim of a crime, a Clark County coroner's office spokeswoman said today. The body was fully clothed, but no identification was found on it. There were no signs of any unattended camps near the body and no vehicle was found nearby, said Karen Strutynsky, a dispatcher with the National Park Service. On Saturday, a citizen walking in a desert area about one-third of a mile west of Las Vegas Boulevard and Warm Springs Road found the body of a Mesa, Ariz., man. Lee Stakebake, 23, died from a gunshot wound, a coroner's spokeswoman said. Metro Police homicide detectives were investigating.

* LANE RESTRICTIONS -- Nighttime lane restrictions will be in effect on Eastern Avenue between Tropicana Avenue and Warm Springs Road through Thursday. Clark County Public Works Department crews will be applying fog seal to the street. The work will occur between 8:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. Fog sealing prolongs the asphalt's life span and reduces the development of potholes, officials said.