Local news briefs for August 3, 2000

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

Bike collides with CAT bus

A motorcyclist was killed Wednesday night on Las Vegas Boulevard South near Interstate 215 when he crashed into a Citizens Area Transit bus.

The man, still unidentified this morning, crashed his 1988 Harley-Davidson into the left side of a CAT bus that was exiting from a private driveway at 6711 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

He was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.

Police say they did not know whether alcohol was a factor. The accident is still under investigation.

It was the 54th traffic-related fatality in Metro's jurisdiction this year.

Parked named for airport chief

A park will be dedicated Friday morning in memory of Gus Sabo, former manager of the North Las Vegas Airport, who died in March 1999 in a plane crash.

Gus Sabo Memorial Park, on Decatur Boulevard between Cheyenne Avenue and Rancho Drive in North Las Vegas, will be dedicated during a ceremony that begins at 10 a.m.

Sabo came up with the concept for the park, which is three quarters of an acre. He had envisioned a pull-off view area where aircraft enthusiasts could park, listen to air traffic tower transmissions and watch airplanes take off and land at North Las Vegas Airport.

Jack Zunino, owner of Zunino & Associates, the landscape architecture firm that designed the park, said the park "offers an abundance of color" thanks to a mixture of flower beds, grass and trees. A concrete outline of Sabo's airplane and a bronze dedication plaque occupy the center of the park.

Nevada to get settlement share

Nevada will receive $128,578 as its share of a $15.5 million settlement in a suit that accused a national company of overcharging for books sold to public schools and libraries.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said the suit alleged that Baker & Taylor Inc., the nation's largest supplier of books to schools and libraries, reneged on its promise to pass along discounts and rigged its computers to charge the higher prices.

Nevada, the U.S. Justice Department, and 17 other states sued in 1998, contending Baker and Taylor engaged in deceptive practices by billing public school and library customers for far more than the agreed-upon price for books.

Baker & Taylor has agreed to provide information in the future to accurately show the appropriate discounts due schools and libraries.

Southwest plane skidded into street

Southwest Airlines fired the pilot and co-pilot of a 737 jetliner that skidded off a runway and onto a street during a botched landing at Burbank (Calif.) Airport in March.

Company officials declined to discuss the reason for the dismissals.

"All I can do is verify that the pilots have been terminated," Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said Wednesday in Burbank. "We can't give any other details because the National Transportation Safety Board investigation is still pending."

The Boeing 737-300, arriving from Las Vegas, barreled off the runway onto a city street March 5, striking a car, just missing a gas station and slightly injuring 15 of the 142 people on board. The most seriously injured was the pilot, who suffered scalp cuts.

Southwest has declined to identify either pilot. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association filed a grievance after the firings, which were effective July 17.

Safety board officials said the captain, a 12-year Southwest veteran, was at the Boeing 737's controls during the landing. The co-pilot was hired by Southwest in 1996.

Southwest Airlines, the nation's seventh-largest air carrier, has not had a fatality in its 30-year history.

The Bureau of Land Management

is looking for comments from the public on the use of off-highway vehicles on public lands. The BLM is developing a strategy to ensure environmental responsibility by off-road drivers, BLM spokesman Philip Guerrero said. The meeting is scheduled 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the BLM office, 4765 Vegas Drive in Las Vegas.