Print edition for January 15, 1999

Studying chemicals in wash not cheap: $500,000: The U.S. Geological Survey will spend $500,000 over a two-year period to study large-mouth bass and other sports fish to see if there is endocrine disruption. The goal is to find out how many chemicals are in Las Vegas Wash and Las Vegas Bay and to discover which compounds disrupt fish reproduction.

RVs may be moving into Henderson neighborhood: Lisa Snedeker; But it was a bumpy ride.

Sun Life Datebook: PERIOD PERFORMANCE

Obituaries for Jan. 15, 1999: He is survived by his wife, Nina; one daughter, Linda Robinson, and one son, John Phillip Bircher, both of Las Vegas; and four grandchildren.

Movie Guys: 'At First Sight' looks at love's complexities: * Starring: Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino, Kelly McGillis, Steven Webber, Bruce Davison, Ken Howard and Nathan Lane.

Letter: Tyson actions uncalled for: TOM NORTON

$104,000 spent on furniture for Nevada Legislature: The Legislature paid $550 for each desk for legislative committee leaders, $560 for their chairs and $230 for chairs for employees in their offices.

Letter: Kudos for Rebel coverage: Keep up the good work. The Sun sports section is superior.

One suspect in horse slaughter free on bail; another undergoes mental exam: Sandra Chereb; Anthony Merlino, 20, Reno, posted a $60,000 bond Thursday and was released from the Washoe County jail.

Court using three-justice panel format: "It is kind of exciting. Ten days after they are sworn in, they already are in action," Chief Justice Bob Rose said, referring to four justices who were sworn in earlier this month, including new Justices Leavitt, Nancy Becker and Deborah Agosti.

Letter: Another happy football reader: As a diehard UNLV football fan, I am incredibly excited for the future. Your coverage of the team and its news adds to that excitement.

Columnist E.J. Dionne: Gore finds topic that hits close to home: He's gambling that they want more green space near their homes and more growth in already developed but economically lagging inner cities. They want suburbs that create the sense of community we associate with old urban neighborhoods.

Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Trooper averts tragedy: This could have been the newspaper headlines if Christopher Lee Merritt of Mankato, Minn., hadn't been intercepted by an alert Nevada Highway patrolman.

Ethics panel issues warning on financial disclosure: Lisa Snedeker; Slightly more than 200 candidates or appointed officials out of the 4,500 in the state didn't make the May 28 deadline. While some who filed late paid the penalty, others filed late but have not paid. Still others have failed to file their statements altogether, according to Louis Ling, deputy attorney general and counsel for the commission.

Strategic planners showcase their work: Scott Reeder; Politicians of every stripe gathered at the Sawyer State Office Building on Thursday and talked about all they had accomplished.

Two medical clinics subject to FBI search: The Isla Verde Medical Center, 1845 Civic Center Drive in North Las Vegas, was raided at 6:40 p.m. The center is owned by Dr. Alfonso Ortiz, an endocrinologist.

Letter: Gators get a bad rap: Fact: Carroll Johnston did indeed establish the most successful high school athletic department in Nevada high school sports during the decade of the 90s. Fact: The rich tradition established during Mr. Johnston's tenure as principal has continued under the present GVHS principal, Betty Sabo.

Foul-up in computer system costs med school $1 million: UNR's financial chief told the Board of Regents on Thursday that the medical school will be lucky to recover $100,000 if the $1 million billing system is sold.

Transportation regulators OK fines, note rate increases: A company that rented vehicles and used them for a shuttle service during the Comdex convention in November was fined $2,500.

The Drew Crew: Drew Carey's fettered public persona -- the infantryman's buzz cut, body by Bud and ubiquitous black spectacles -- cloaks a fertile imagination.

Columnist Joe Delaney: Production shows still providing bang for buck: Joe Delaney; Since its opening, this column has rated "Mystere" as LV's top production show. ... With "O," a new high standard has been set. ... Tickets for "O" go for $90 and $100, including tax, depending upon location. ... "Mystere" continues at $63.50 plus tax, making it a comparative price bargain. ... If you've seen either, you should see the other.

Ex-Tyson trainer Rooney says Botha has a chance: Tim Graham; The trainer credited for leading Mike Tyson to his mantle as the "Baddest Man on the Planet" claims Frans Botha has a chance -- albeit a slim one.

Witnesses say Vanisi talked of killing a cop: Taukiuvea said Vanisi at first denied being the killer when he asked him about it.

Judge rules against county zoning decision: Bill Gang; Pago Pago Inc. had been rejected by the County Commission when it sought M-1 zoning for the site on Wendy Street, west of Las Vegas Boulevard near Sunset Road, where the Rocky Lee of New York bar-restaurant has been struggling to survive.

Letter: Nevada legislators need to hear our anti-dump stance: Radioactive waste is the most deadly known substance to man and it has been proven that it can travel, reaching our ground water attached to tiny particles known as colloids from the nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site.

Gaming Board splits on three gaming issues: John Wilen; Three items were decided by 2-1 votes, and two of those found new Board Member Bobby Siller casting the dissenting vote.

Mike in pre-fight funk: Dean Juipe; By Dean Juipe LAS VEGAS SUN

Trump buys Kansas City Hilton: Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. is buying the Flamingo Hilton Kansas City for a reported $15 million in cash. Hilton invested about $100 million in the resort, which opened in October 1996.

Sparks councilman to run for mayor: He announced his candidacy on Thursday.

Rebels host Tulsa, red-hot Ruffin: Steve Carp; They should just give Michael Ruffin a permanent trophy and let the rest of the WAC Mountain Division scrounge for the scraps.

Broadway star to headline "EFX" show at MGM Grand: Robert Macy; The dream became a reality Friday when Tune, a nine-time Tony Award winner, took over the lead in the $45 million production show "EFX" at the MGM Grand hotel-casino.

Brief: Innovative Gaming to report a loss: The company blamed the loss on a tough market for multi-player gaming machines.

Keyshawn is the key for Jets in their quest to upset Broncs: If the Jets are to have any hopes of beating Denver, Pro Bowl receiver Keyshawn Johnson is really going to have to step up his game.

Library board taking a look at hiring lobbyist firm: Lobbyists who volunteered their time occasionally have represented the district in the past, but board member Barbara Robinson, chairwoman of the library's Legislative Committee, said paying for the service will give the district more effective representation.

Tree-cutting procedure leaves longtime LV resident stumped: Whitman, 69, is raising a fuss over how the management of Desert Winds Mobile Home Park, in the shadows of the Nellis Air Force Base water tower, had the old-growth trees in her yard and on other lots significantly cut back.

Local SCORE drivers preparing for annual Laughlin Desert Challenge: With more than a dozen racers from Southern Nevada entered, the first major desert race of 1999 will start the second year of Laughlin's title sponsorship of the six-race Laughlin SCORE Desert Series, America's foremost desert racing series.

Marine says his two friends shot one wild horse in Nevada: Scott Sonner; "I watched my two friends kill this horse without doing anything about it. Yes, that is wrong. That is what I'm going to court for. But we did not kill 34 horses that night," Lance Cpl. Darien Brock said.

Nemechek posts top LVMS speed: Nemechek posted the fastest unofficial lap speed of 166.02 mph in his BellSouth Chevrolet while Stewart, starting his rookie season in the Winston Cup Series, was second fastest at 165.73 mph in The Home Depot Pontiac.

Saturday at Golden Gate: 1st race 6 fur 4YO Clm: 1 Seguro (Meza) 117; 2 Smooth Prospector (RBaze) 117; 3 Steven K Brown (Carr) 117; 4 Kabob (Valdivia) 117; 5 Silver Trooper (Perez) 119; 6 Tricky Lee (Schvaneveldt) 117.

Saturday at Aqueduct: 1st race 6 fur 4YO & up F&M Clm: 1 Gabbie Mawdie (Espinoza) 116; 2 Sparkling Nanny (Diaz) 111; 3 Jametta (Smith) 109; 4 Sam's Hour (Diego) 109; 5 Flight Deck (Douglas) 112; 6 Crafty Card (Lopez) 112; 7 Gim's A Hug (Cruz) 107; 8 Midnight Mood (Gryder) 118; 9 a-Beep Bobbie (Chen) 107; 10 Arctic Gold (Molina) 109; 11 Chanson De Soleil (Beckner) 116; 12 Rose Creek Rose (Leon) 116.

Haynes, Jordanaires perform fitting tributes to music greats: Joe Delaney; Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews, Duane West and Ray Walker, the Jordanaires, are celebrating 50 years in the business, which includes some 30,000 recordings with some 2,500 artists over the years. The years, 1956-1970, were spent recording and appearing with Elvis Presley. They can also be heard backing such contemporary artists as Billy Ray Cyrus, k.d. lang and Reba McEntire.

Letter: Veterans agency at best inefficient: How many veterans have heard "your records are lost," or "your records were burned in a fire at the military personnel facility?" This is a ploy on the VA's part to deny treatment for even service-connected ills, in an effort to cut cost.

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Hamilton gets shot to race in opener: Davey Hamilton still isn't quite sure how it came about, but the Las Vegas resident will be racing after all in next weekend's Indy Racing League season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.

Brief: Laughlin numbers were mixed in November: Visitor volumes for the 11-month period from January to November fell 5.3 percent, from 4.21 million in the 1997 period to 3.99 million in the same period of 1998.

Amount of dams' flows reduced again: The bureau had increased flows in December, anticipating a wetter-than-normal winter.

Parents, students support Rancho's Jauregui: Benjamin Grove; The Clark County School Board on Thursday was scheduled to re-assign Jauregui to one of its Horizon High Schools, alternative schools for students with serious discipline problems.

Station Casinos, Greyhound offer new bus routes to LV: The new routes begin Jan. 22 from Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno/Bakersfield, Calif.; and Phoenix with intermediate stops.

Letter: Charities should get donor input: Further, if an organization wants your car it should clearly state how it will receive full value for your donation.

Fans would flock to see Tyson lose: Yes, for the umpteenth time, Frans Botha could win this fight.

Goodsprings to get relief from trucks: Scott Reeder; Now the problem in this community 35 miles southwest of Las Vegas is on the brink of being solved.

$1 million gift to help center for children: Children's Advocacy Alliance raised the money through foundation grants and contributions from local businesses and individuals.

Underground river suspected in flow of BMI contaminants: The discovery is significant because scientists believe if the river can be located, then it can be diverted from the plant site and the pollutants can be blocked from flowing into Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's primary source for drinking water.

CES showcased huge speakers built in LV: A company whose top product is a stereo speaker system more expensive than most homes was one of eight Las Vegas companies that exhibited at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show.

Columnist Steve Carp: Mountain West looks like winner for 2000 tourney: Steve Carp; Maybe protocol wasn't followed to the letter. But when the smoke clears, one thing will be certain come May -- the Mountain West Conference will have an automatic bid to the 2000 NCAA Tournament and the Western Athletic Conference won't.

Rice buries Lady Rebels: Junior Kirra Jordan had 21 points and junior Marla Brumfield added 17 as Rice defeated UNLV 73-43 in a Western Athletic Conference women's basketball game Thursday at Houston.

Thunder home games changed: The Las Vegas Thunder today announced that two home games later this season have been rescheduled to accommodate incoming boxing and wrestling events at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Casino design called a business, not an art: John Wilen; Charles Silverman can't allow himself to be too attached to his work.

Another polluted well shut down in Tahoe: The additive known as MTBE is added to some California gasoline to make fuel burn cleaner. But since 1997, contamination has forced the closure of a third of the district's wells around South Lake Tahoe.

Richardson reiterates position on Nevada: Lake Barrett, acting chief of the DOE's civilian nuclear waste storage program, hinted in a report Thursday that President Clinton might not veto a proposal already introduced into the House to put high-level nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site while federal studies continue at a proposed permanent site at Yucca Mountain.

Adelson unveils a softer approach: Gary Thompson; Long known for his to-the-point but abrasive speeches, the billionaire owner of the Venetian talked warmly at a Women in Communications luncheon about his childhood, promised to set up a drug-treatment clinic in Las Vegas and pledged to treat his employees the same way he'd have treated his father.

Parkinson's disease puts damper on fight night scene for Finfrock: Tim Graham; These were the weekends Dennis Finfrock lived for.

Bout packs $8 million punch in nongaming revenues: But his heavyweight bout with South African Frans Botha should generate at least an $8 million nongaming economic impact for the city and immeasurable exposure to a new audience.

Karpov chess game to benefit victims of Hurricane Mitch: These fractured lyrics could be used to promote an exhibition chess game in Las Vegas Saturday featuring Muhammad Ali, Tony Curtis, Paul Fisher and World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov. The match will benefit victims in Honduras of Hurricane Mitch

Community Briefs: Births: Lake Mead Hospital

Box score: UNLV 78, Rice 72: 3-Point Goals: 14-34 .412 (Johnson 5-10, Skaer 5-11, Tyndell 2-4, Cooper 1-2, Michaelis 1-3, Armstrong 0-2).

Ralph Siraco's Santa Anita selections: 1ST RACE:

LV picked for special HUD funds: Erin Neff; As a "strategic planning communities" finalist, Clark County could gain $3 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development funding for revitalization and job creation programs.

Brief: Harrah's recognized by magazine: Other companies listed in the category include Federal Express, American Airlines and Royal Caribbean. Harrah's is the only gaming company on the Platinum List.

BLM extends public comment period: The area under discussion covers about 452,000 acres.

UNR gets $100,000 grant from Barrick Goldstrike Mines: "We are immensely grateful to Barrick for the significant demonstration of their commitment to the future of the Mackay School of Mines," Dean Jane C.S. Long said.

Brief: Legislature avoids casino education: The bill would not allow schools to teach students how to gamble.

Ethics panel dismisses cases against Jones, Gates: Lisa Snedeker; That's what the state Ethics Commission said Thursday about a complaint filed against County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates.

Dial File: The odds even out for cable: Instead of early man sending a bone sailing into the stratosphere to become a spaceship in the blink of an evolutionary eye, a squawking NBC peacock is flung skyward, transformed in the blink of a technological eye into a winged cable box.

Free throws, defense pay dividends for Rebels: Steve Carp; You're not going to paint a masterpiece every night. Sometimes, you have to settle for stick figures on butcher paper and hope it's good enough to pass the test.

Brief: Las Vegas prices rise: The bank, however, reported lower prices in Las Vegas for housing, clothing, education, communications and medical care.

National Football Conference Champions: 1934-New York 30, Chicago Bears 13

Berkley finds Flynt tactics disgusting: Mark D. Preston; Eight months later, the freshman Democrat says she is disgusted with pornography publisher Larry Flynt's crusade to destroy some politicians' lives and describes his actions as modern day "McCarthyism."

Brief: Nevada Power chief sets retirement date: He joined the company in 1974 as vice president of finance. At that time, Nevada Power served only 118,000 customers. Today, the company serves nearly 550,000. Over the same period, assets grew from $332 million to $2.3 billion.

Editorial: Connecting the dots on poll results: It was especially intriguing that despite the stereotype of Nevadans having a libertarian streak and abhorring big government, the poll finds instead that they believe more should be spent on vital social and educational programs. For instance, child abuse prevention was listed by most Nevadans as the area where they believe more state spending is needed, with 81 percent favoring added funding. Also high on the list for additional monies were these categories: low-income elderly programs (80 percent); domestic violence programs (71 percent); child care for welfare recipients who are enrolled in job training (69 percent); and additional funding for ...

Brown named chairman of flood control board: Erin Neff; Brown has served on the board since July 1997 and has extensive experience and understanding about Southern Nevada water issues due to his former employment with the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

Columnist Muriel Stevens: There were hundreds of winners in this tasty Olympics: NGO, a fund-raiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, was created by Rino Armeni, executive marketing director for Southern Wine and Spirits, with assistance from Michael Severino, manager of special events for SWS.

Mistrial declared in cop-killing case: Sandra Chereb; Washoe District Judge Connie Steinheimer declared the mistrial in the case of Siaosi Vanisi.

Editorial: No time for dawdling on campaign reforms: The question now is whether Hastert, who voted against the Shays-Meehan bill, will create new roadblocks. Americans are increasingly becoming cynical that they no longer have a voice in determining who wins elections. The Shays-Meehan bill would restore some sanity to the out-of-control costs of campaigns. Hopefully Hastert will be a man of his word and will drop the nasty partisanship that marked the debate over campaign finance reform during the 105th Congress, instead creating momentum for reform in both the House and Senate.

American Football Conference Champions: 1961-Houston 10, San Diego 3

Brief: Acquisitions to speed up phone service starts: Customers who sign on with Nextlink Nevada will be able to hook up to the company's fiber-optic network within a couple days instead of waiting for three to four months, said Kristy Becker, a spokeswoman for the Henderson affiliate. The system provides two-way digital distribution of multimedia -- data, voice and video -- via rooftop antennae.

Brief: Henderson firm in alfalfa deal: In addition, ABT and Forage Genetics agreed to work together to develop, evaluate and release new ABT varieties with resistance to potato leafhopper.

Huntridge Theatre may get historic status: "Las Vegas has reshaped itself many times over so those parts of it that do survive are even more important," said state Historic Preservation Officer Ron James, who forwarded the art deco structure's nomination to the board.

Local GOP to vote on leader: The recall vote for Chairman Milton Schwartz and the other elected officials will start at 6:30 p.m. and will last just one hour. There are 850 members in the committee.