Proposal made for Las Vegas County

Wednesday, May 28, 1997 | 10:48 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Most tourists visiting the Strip think they're in Las Vegas -- not unincorporated Clark County -- reason enough to change the name of the county, Assemblyman Tom Collins says.

Assembly Bill 540, introduced Tuesday by the Assembly Government Affairs Committee at Collins' request, calls for changing Clark County to Las Vegas County.

Collins, D-North Las Vegas, said he is not pushing for the name change but introduced the bill on behalf of a resident who lives in the northwest area of the valley.

"I'm not in this fight either way," said Collins, who isn't sure if the bill will even get a hearing at this late date in the Legislature.

"Let the folks come out and say whether they want to continue to be confused on where they are at ... if they want to let 21 million tourists go to the Strip and never set foot in Las Vegas and claim they been there. Those are statements I've heard.

"I will assume that if this bill gets a hearing," Collins said, "there will be folks there to testify that since large advertising campaigns show a fellah driving a car down the Strip and saying 'This Is My Town, Las Vegas' and he's out in Clark County on the Strip ...

"A lot of folks don't know if they are in Las Vegas or Clark County. A lot of folks don't care," Collins said.

The county was named for William Clark, a U.S. senator from Montana and copper baron who helped build the railroad from Los Angeles through Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. Las Vegas, Spanish for "The Meadows," was named by early explorers in the area.

Las Vegas Valley and the Las Vegas Springs existed on maps before the city was founded in 1905 after the railroad was completed.

With the city's southern limits at Sahara Avenue, the Strip is located in unincorporated Clark County.