Las Vegas news briefs

Thursday, May 27, 1999 | 11:30 a.m.

Grounded for nearly two months after a mishap in Florida, the Air Force Thunderbirds have been cleared for performances beginning June 2.

The Air Force's aerial demonstration team stationed at Nellis Air Force Base will perform a fly-over June 2 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., followed by a June 5 performance at a Mankato, Minn., air show.

Nellis canceled its scheduled May 8 air show after the team was grounded following a April 25 "brush-by" at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. Two of the team's F-16 jets bumped in midair. There were no injuries, but performances were suspended for safety.

A Nellis spokesman said the Las Vegas air show will be rescheduled, probably in October or November, at the end of the team's performing season.

The Thunderbirds consist of eight pilots, four support pilots and about 120 enlisted personnel in more than 25 career specialties. A typical performance lasts about 75 minutes.

Murderer loses in federal court

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals this week refused to overturn the murder conviction of a man who claims he was a victim of double jeopardy.

Benny Ficklin was 15 years old in 1981 when he killed a customer of a Las Vegas bar during a robbery.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Wednesday that Ficklin, now 33, has never denied killing Thomas Turk, but Ficklin argues he should not have been found guilty of felony murder because of an earlier guilty plea to the robbery charge.

Being convicted of the charge constituted double jeopardy because robbery was an element of the felony murder charge, according to Ficklin.

In a decision issued Tuesday, the appellate court said the state court "carefully avoided double jeopardy concerns in this case by instructing the jury that a first-degree murder conviction could only be supported by a finding of premeditation."

Ficklin is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.

Three women die in auto accident

Three elderly women returning home to Arizona Wednesday were killed when the sport utility vehicle they were riding in blew a tire and overturned.

The women, all in their 70s, were dead at the scene of the noon accident, Boulder City Police Sgt. James Reed said. Their names and exact ages were not released, pending notification of relatives.

Reed said the three were returning to Bullhead City, Ariz., from Las Vegas when the tread separated from one of the vehicle's tires on U.S. Highway 95 about 20 miles south of Boulder City. The driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to overturn and eject one of the passengers.

EPA scientist to represent group

Federal pollution specialist Jeff van Ee has won a temporary injunction against the Environmental Protection Agency, his employer, in a nine-year legal battle over his right to act as a private citizen while employed by the government.

The senior scientist working at the EPA's Quality Assurance Laboratory in Las Vegas had cleared his name after the EPA reprimanded him in August 1990 after he exposed problems with a proposed tortoise study. A member of the Sierra Club, van Ee spoke up while attending a public hearing on his own time.

In reprimanding van Ee, the EPA claimed he violated a law prohibiting federal employees from representing others in actions against the government.

A U.S. District judge had denied the EPA's request for summary judgment and his case was heading for another appeal when his attorneys requested the emergency injunction.

With injunction in hand, van Ee attended a meeting at the Bureau of Land Management office Tuesday, representing the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association in talks concerning new procedures for the sale or auction of federal lands.