Las Vegas news briefs for July 23, 1999

Friday, July 23, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

Storeowner beaten outside apartment

The owner of a local convenience store has died from injuries he sustained Sunday when he was beaten outside his Las Vegas apartment.

Samir Matti, 37, died Wednesday at University Medical Center from head injuries. Police say Matti was attacked by an unknown number of people, robbed and severely beaten Sunday at an apartment complex in the 5100 block of East Sahara Avenue. Matti was carrying cash and receipts from his convenience store, according to a homicide detective.

Anyone with information about the robbery and beating can call Metro's homicide division or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Suspects sought in theft at drugstore

Metro Police are asking for the public's help in finding two men who robbed a Las Vegas drugstore.

On July 15, the two men entered a drugstore in the 1300 block of East Flamingo Road, brandished a gun and ordered two clerks to empty a cash register and a slot change machine, police said. The men made the clerks lie on the floor behind the counter and then fled the store, according to a robbery detective.

Police describe the first suspect as an 18- to 25-year-old man. He was last seen wearing a red plaid shirt and tan pants. He was carrying a blue steel automatic handgun, police said.

The second suspect is described by police as a man of similar age who was last seen wearing a dark shirt, dark pants, a dark baseball cap and a backpack. Anyone with information regarding this robbery can call Metro's robbery detail at 229-3591 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Grant to pay for study of Indians

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded a $186,000 grant to study the health of Indians living downwind of the Nevada Test Site's radioactive fallout from nuclear experiments of the 1950s and 1960s.

The three-year grant from the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health in Atlanta will allow researchers from Clark University and the Childhood Cancer Research Institute of Worcester, Mass., to gather information from medical records on possible thyroid diseases in tribal members.

The nine Indian tribes in the study include Western Shoshones and Southern Paiutes in central and Southern Nevada, southern Utah and southeastern California, Community Research Coordinator Patricia George said.

Successful admissions campaign continues

An award-winning marketing campaign launched last year to attract more students to UNLV will be used again beginning later this month, officials announced Thursday.

The campaign, called "Be A Rebel," was developed by Thomas Puckett Marketing in conjunction with UNLV's department of marketing.

It won the best of show award, among numerous other honors, at the 14th annual Admissions Advertising Awards in February. The competition is sponsored by the Atlanta-based "Admissions Marketing Report."

"Following the campaign, we saw an increase in the number of people requesting admission information about UNLV," President Carol Harter said.

Thunderbirds take break from tours

The Thunderbirds, a U.S. Air Force demonstration squadron, will not host public tours at Nellis Air Force Base Aug. 3 and 5, and the Thunderbird Museum will be closed Aug. 3 and 6 due to a mid-season break.

Officials said the team's tours will resume Aug. 10. The museum will resume normal hours Aug. 9.

Board furthers search for superintendent

The Clark County School Board took another step in selecting a new superintendent to replace the outgoing Brian Cram.

At Thursday's meeting the board unanimously voted to select Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates as the firm that will conduct the superintendent search.

"This firm has a nationwide net of contacts and has placed superintendents in five of the 15 largest districts in the country," board member Sheila Moulton said.

Acting board assistant Kathy Harney will work as a liaison between the board and the search firm, and will look into establishing a website that will gather comments from the public about the characteristics a superintendent should have.

The board hopes to have a new superintendent selected by February 2000. Cram retires in July 2000.

Painters seriously burned in accident

Two painters were seriously burned Thursday morning while working on the new Desert Pines High School at 3800 Harris Ave.

Co-workers told fire investigators that the workers were using an electric floor scrubber when fumes from cleaning chemicals ignited in a flash fire. The two men ran from the building with their clothes on fire. Co-workers pushed them to the ground, tore off their clothes and took the men to the school's auto shop so they could be doused in an industrial shower there, according to a fire department spokesman.

The men were taken to the burn unit at University Medical Center. One victim, described as an 18-year-old, was in good condition this morning, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The second victim, described as a 31-year-old man, was in critical condition, she said.

Body was found in downtown area

A 19-year-old found shot to death in the downtown area early Wednesday has been identified as Cornelius Joe. No city of residence was available from the coroner's office.

Joe's body was found by a bike path near North 15th Street. An area resident heard gunfire before midnight, but police have not found any witnesses, nor have they uncovered a motive for the shooting.