Dealers in area east of Strip put on notice

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 9:48 a.m.

Three years ago Clark County began banishing prostitutes in an older neighborhood in exchange for more lenient penalties.

Now that the prostitute population east of the Las Vegas Strip has thinned considerably, the Clark County Commission is taking after another group accused of dragging down neighborhoods: drug pushers.

Commissioner Myrna Williams, whose district includes the valley's oldest neighborhoods, introduced an ordinance Tuesday that will keep drug users and dealers busted by Metro Police out of the area for six months to a year.

Williams said she has thought about the program dubbed the "Order Out Corridor" ever since the prostitution law was deemed a success.

"The reason it's taken so long is we wanted to make sure all legal points on what we were doing were legal," Williams said. "After much discussion by all the staff and the DA, we ironed out anything that might be questionable."

Under the program, a judge could allow drug-users or dealers the choice of serving time in jail or taking part in the "order out" program. Drug offenders who take part in the program will be issued suspended sentences. However, if they are caught in the neighborhood again, they will serve their full sentence.

The swath of old neighborhoods targeted by the ordinance is bordered by Maryland Parkway, Russell Road, Paradise Road, Tropicana Avenue, Koval Lane, Sands Avenue and Sahara Avenue. It also includes the UNLV campus and the Boulevard mall.

Williams said the county has made significant progress in sprucing up the area by building the Cambridge Community Outreach Center, which will soon include a new recreation center.

"I've been looking for a renaissance of the Strip corridor; hopefully these are the things that will work," Williams said.

A Metro Police study shows that while prostitution cases have dropped in the area, the number of drug-related offenses have increased significantly, according to the county.

"It provides Metro with another tool to help clean up that area," Williams said.

Williams received full support from the commission. A public hearing on the ordinance was scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sept. 21 in the Clark County Government Center.