Print edition for February 15, 2000

Profit falls for LV managed care concern: The profit slightly exceeded the mean estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research of 34 cents per share.

Wednesday at Santa Anita: 1st race 6 fur 4YO & up Mdn Clm: 1 In the Lane (McCarron) 122; 2 Little O. P. (Espinoza) 121; 3 Flaxsun (Pincay) 121; 4 Heir Exuberant (Jauregui) 119; 5 Got Milk (Sorenson) 121; 6 Mr. Power (Ramsammy) 121; 7 Mistakenly Special (Enriquez) 121; 8 Trick Z (Desormeaux) 116.

Snowbirds, music with broad appeal mark air show: The Canadian Air Force Snowbirds and a concert featuring a big-name "cross-over" artist will highlight the first-ever Las Vegas International Air Show this fall.

Tabish friend talks in bribe probe: Copyright 2000 Las Vegas Sun

Las Vegas bureau opening: Tom Gorman, a 27-year veteran of the Times currently covering the Inland Empire region of Southern California, was named chief of the new bureau. Gorman will cover Las Vegas and Nevada from the Las Vegas office.

Insurance division joins in Holocaust victim program: CARSON CITY -- State Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman said today her agency has joined in an international effort to settle the claims of Holocaust survivors and victims who held insurance policies.

Wednesday at Bay Meadows: 1st race 1 mi 4YO & up Mdn Clm: 1 Hot Burn (Miranda) 113; 2 Cubanito King (Alvarado) 116; 3 Implausible (Carr) 118; 4 Book Review (Radke) 113; 5 Pleasant Aspect (Gonzalez) 118.

Outside help sought in NLV land deal: Diana Sahagun; Because of the time demands of negotiating an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management for the release and sale of the first phase of the 7,500 acres in North Las Vegas, the City Council is considering help from an outside law firm.

Bill legalizing gaming fails: HONOLULU -- A state House proposal to legalize shipboard gambling in Hawaii sank quietly Monday without a floor vote or debate.

Nevada problem gambling study still not under way: CARSON CITY -- A long-delayed study into the depth of gambling addiction in Nevada may soon be ready to start.

Developer knew site was slated for drainage ditch: Adrienne Packer; As plans to design and build a flood channel progress in the Las Vegas Valley's southwest, Rhodes Ranch officials are making a last-ditch effort to push the project off their property, increasing the value of their new development.

Lake Tahoe gravely imperiled; staggering loss of clarity continues: Scott Sonner; "Lake Tahoe is gravely imperiled," according to a copy of the report's executive summary obtained by The Associated Press.

Obituaries for February 15, 2000: William George Abretske, 57, of Las Vegas died Wednesday in a local hospital. He was born March 19, 1942, in Pennsylvania. A resident for 17 years, he was a miner and an Army veteran.

Community news briefs for February 15, 2000: University Medical Center opened a Children's Clinical Decision unit last month for pediatric patients that will allow physicians to observe children who need extra medical attention but not hospital care.

PGA Tour Schedule-Winners: Jan. 13-16 - Sony Open (Paul Azinger)

Council panel OKs cemetery lease: Erin Neff; Four generations of Foleys are buried beneath the dried Bermuda grass lining Woodlawn Cemetery.

Adult bookstore scoffs at city's latest tactic: Erin Neff; The Las Vegas city attorney's office hopes that adding a paragraph and deleting a word in the municipal code will finally give the city the legal standing to force an adult bookstore to close.

Controversy erupts over Alabama bill: MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Legislation that would allow video poker machines at dog tracks in Greene and Macon counties today prompted Lt. Gov. Steve Windom and other gambling opponents to question the Legislature's priorities.

City hands cemetery business to private company: The city is expected to approve a contract Wednesday with Carriage Services Inc. to operate and maintain Woodlawn Cemetery, a city-owned facility that includes a section for pauper graves.

Equinox founder liquidating some assets: David Strow; Equinox International Corp., the Las Vegas network marketing company currently fighting for its life in a federal courtroom, is losing millions of dollars a month as it prepares to go to trial -- losses its founder is covering by liquidating about $10 million in personal assets.

World Series of Poker dates announced: The tournament will feature 25 events, up from 16 in 1999. The World Series will culminate in a no-limit hold 'em championship event ending May 18. The winner of the final game is guaranteed $1 million, though the casino expects that the winner of this year's no-limit tournament could win as much as $1.5 million.

Land sale results in first-quarter profit: The Las Vegas casino operator lost $3.86 million, or 54 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues in the quarter ending Dec. 31 rose 8.8 percent to $32.8 million.

Technology aids casino marketers; caution urged: David Strow; Technology presents more opportunity than ever for casinos to tailor their marketing to each customer.

Casino panel's first meeting fraught with confusion: A new board appointed to hear the appeal of a controversial casino approval in Spring Valley struggled Monday to define the procedures and rules that the untested body will use during the two-month appeal process.

Wednesday at Aqueduct: 1st race 6 fur 4YO & up F & M Mdn Clm: 1 Kings Park (Rodriguez) 121; 2 Margin for Error (Rocco) 116; 3 Fine Appearance (Keaveney) 111; 4a Kipperella (Arroyo) 116; 5 Princess Jubilee (Aguilar) 121; 6a Dynamic Pic (Castillo) 121; 7 Temporary Princess (Luzzi) 121; 8 Eve's Obligation (Blake) 114; 9 Ladies Galore (Francis) 121; 10 Duke's Fortune (Henry) 121; 11 Feeling Forty (Montalvo) 116.

Harrah's, Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart make Fortune list: Two other companies with big and expanding Las Vegas operations -- Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines -- are the most admired companies in their industries in the new Fortune list of America's most admired companies.

Funds detour: Benjamin Grove; Clinton plan

Lighting for new NLV park well above estimates: Diana Sahagun; The price tag for the lighting of three youth soccer fields at James Seastrand Park in North Las Vegas has shot up by $90,000.

U.S. attorney defends environmental prosecutions: "There has not been any lack of cooperation with the Forest Service," Landreth said. "All federal land management cases that are provable are vigorously pursued.

Megabucks hits again; Wheel of Fortune takes winning spin: A pair of multimillion-dollar slot jackpots made Valentine's Day a lot sweeter for two men -- one is a Las Vegan and the other is a tourist, who returned to the town where he was married last year to celebrate his wedding anniversary.

Weeklong program stresses child safety: This year's events focus on children up to the age of 8. Automobile organizations say nearly 90 percent of child car safety seats are improperly installed. In addition many parents let their children ride unrestrained.

No evidence offered in informant hearing: Rick Tabish's lawyer acknowledged in court Monday that he has no "smoking gun" to prove that prosecutors planted a jailhouse informant next to the murder defendant to steal his personal notes.

House arrest denied; judge OKs transfer to juvenile center: Bill Gang; District Judge Mark Gibbons again rejected a request to let 15-year-old Conan Pope out of jail on house arrest, despite the insistence of his attorneys that a ninth grader doesn't belong behind bars in an adult jail.

Online LV wholesaler adds cruises: Vacationers will be able to book cruises on the site on the Carnival, Holland America and Royal Caribbean lines to Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

Cleanup begins at Reno company: "It was vacuumed up the first time but later we saw mercury beads," Lukasko said. "It must have been absorbed in the asphalt."

Health district woes may stall air cleanup: In order to clean the air in the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County officials may first have to clear the air in the Health District.

Internet gambling ban advances: PIERRE, S.D. -- It is already illegal under general law to run an Internet gambling business in South Dakota, but legislators agreed Monday that the stakes should be raised for those who may try.

Mountain West basketball standings: Monday's Game

15-year-old to be moved to juvenile facility: District Judge Mark Gibbons has ruled that Conan Pope be moved to the juvenile facility, along with a warning that he expected no trouble from the teen-ager or he would be returned to the jail.

Analysts confident fuel price hikes won't hurt LV: David Strow; Though oil prices are soaring to their highest levels in 10 years, most analysts and local officials are confident Las Vegas visitors aren't about to stay away in droves.

Las Vegas Sun reporter hired as high court information officer: A Las Vegas native, Gang has worked for 11 years as a court reporter with the Sun. He also worked for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Channel 8, KLAS-TV, and for Clark County as a public information officer for juvenile courts.

IBL boss plans to add teams: Steve Guiremand; The Las Vegas Silver Bandits are the hottest team in the International Basketball League, having won 18 of their last 20 games.

Boys basketball all-Conference teams: All-Sunrise Region: Ian Atkins, Bas; Tremmell Darden, LV; Mario Hagan, Chap; Sam Jackson, Val; Rod Lukes, Ran; Kevin Short, Sil; Co-MVPs: Atkins, Lukes; Coach-Bob Beskow, LV.

IBL Box: Trenton-Las Vegas: TRENTON (17-16)

Gaels face 'brutal' slate: Spencer Patterson; It's not often that a loss is better than a win, especially when it comes in a team's final regular season game.

CCSN box score: Myers, Stephens (6), Clatterbuck (9), Moser (9), Kilby (10) and West; Lyon, Fox (9) and Nelson. W--Fox. L--Moser. 2B--Didier, Quinto (CCSN), Burges (Dixie). LOB--CCSN 3, Dixie 11. SB--Pollaro, Burgess, Mantico (Dixie). T--2:30. A--75.

Monday's prep results: Bonanza 2, Cheyenne 0 Goals: Mendenhall, Perry.

Prep playoffs schedules, results: Today's First Round

Holyfield treasures his ESPY: Victoria Sun; Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is well-known as the guy who had part of his ear chewed off by Mike Tyson during a 1998 title fight.

Sun Girls Basketball Poll: Sun Girls Basketball Poll

Columnist Ron Kantowski: ESPYs are like a bowling banquet -- with tuxes: I bit my lip when it forced the WNBA down our throats and ranked a racehorse ahead of Mickey Mantle on its list of top 50 athletes of the 20th century, and changed the channel when a bunch of tattooed guys with pierced nipples went sidewalk surfing for beaucoup dollars during the aptly named X-Games.

IBL standings: West

Probation received in money-laundering case: Kim Smith; A Las Vegas couple who undercover officers said agreed to launder more than $1 million they believed to be drug money were given five years probation Monday.

Reno city councilman cries foul: The Regional Planning Government Board voted 9-1 last week against the change, killing plans for the 955-home subdivision at least for this year.

Child molester draws 12-to-30-year sentence: Bill Gang; A Las Vegas advertising man with a history of sexual misconduct involving children has been sentenced to 12 to 30 years in prison.

Showdown with Gorman could loom for Centennial: Spencer Patterson; Each time Centennial's girls basketball team took the court as this season progressed, the Bulldogs put one of Southern Nevada's most memorable recent streaks at risk.

Anxious Silverado parents await school rezoning decision: Jace Radke; Although 14 miles separate two high schools in the southeast part of the Las Vegas Valley, the differences between the two schools stretch much farther than that.

Sen. Bryan and others to meet with American Airlines: American bought Reno Air last year and Bryan has been working since to assure that the new owner continue the level of service Reno Air offered.

A '90s kind of guy: Victoria Sun; The questions came fast and furious, except they weren't the ones St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire is accustomed to answering.

Sun Boys Basketball Poll: Teams ranked jointly by the Las Vegas Sun and the Daily Sparks Tribune.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Wednesday's races at Santa Anita: 1st Race -- In The Lane - McCarron aboard Zuker trainee, draws rail post, needs clean trip to graduate. Trick Z - Breaks from outside post, Desormeaux on Dolan horse, should be able to size up competition from viewpoint. Value Play -- Mr. Power

Columnist Dean Juipe: Tiger's tale: No one will top Nelson: Dean Juipe; Tiger Woods couldn't do it.

Wife won't testify against husband in killing of prostitute: Bill Gang; The wife of a man charged with murder in the bizarre slaying of a prostitute in the couple's home has refused to testify against her husband.

Editorial: Change will harm tranquility: Now Bustos is going forward with his request that the Clark County Commission change the zoning of the land -- from rural to general commercial and light manufacturing -- so he can develop the property. Bustos wants to build a 112-room hotel, an 18-hole miniature golf course, batting cages, a man-made lake, a people-mover tramway and a water bottling plant. Bustos' application, which will be before the commission on Wednesday, has generated controversy. Mount Potosi residents, a Methodist church retreat, the operators of a Boy Scouts campground, the volunteer fire department, the Mountain Springs Advisory Council and the Clark County ...

Editorial: Fame didn't tarnish character of Schulz: The worldwide fame -- and millions of dollars -- that Schulz received would have changed nearly anyone else. Nowadays those who become famous usually are changed irrevocably, often turning into petulant prima donnas. Schulz, though, was the anti-celebrity in an age where celebrity worship trumped all else. Schulz's dedication to his art, and his refusal to let the trappings of fame change him, will be missed.

Senate rejects putting casino revenue into permanent fund: The fund would have been invested by the state investment officer. The income would have been used for health, economic development, infrastructure development, education and other projects for all tribes.

Columnist Susan Snyder: Exhaustion isn't in her vocabulary: Erin West is a Las Vegas soccer mom with a twist.

Columnist Kate Maddox: New 'Spin': Charlie Sheen in for Fox: Kate Maddox; Martin Sheen, one of the presenters at Monday night's ESPY Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, let it slip backstage to the press that his son, Charlie, has just about wrapped up the deal for him to take over as the male lead on the popular ABC sitcom "Spin City" when Michael J. Fox leaves at the end of the season.

Letter: Unborn children have rights, too: The argument that women can do with their bodies as they choose isn't true. We have laws that keep a woman (or man) from doing what they choose to do with their bodies. Suicide is illegal, so is prostitution. Those who choose abortion are not choosing what happens to the woman's body, they want to choose what happens to the baby's body. The baby is living in the mother, but they are two different people.

Stewart displeased with draft status: Mike Harris; DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Tony Stewart doesn't need to prove his credentials to anybody after the sensational rookie year he had in 1999. But the former Indy Racing League champion admits he has a lot to learn about drafting at Daytona International Speedway.

Letter: President's plan to protect forests deserves support: These are places where the mark of people is almost invisible, where wild things still thrive in serene and almost-untouched places, where water and air are the cleanest to be found, places that are invigorating and inspiring.

Researcher receives $1 million to study compulsive gambling: Dr. Nancy Petry is conducting the country's first scientific study of treatments for gambling addictions. She has been researching the issue since 1998.

Prosecutors outline second alleged scheme in Edwards corruption trial: Natalie Gott; Edwards, his son Stephen, state Sen. Greg Tarver, Eunice cattleman Cecil Brown and three others are standing trial on charges they accepted payoffs from casino applicants. The alleged schemes occurred before, during and after Edwards' fourth term that ran from 1992 through 1996, prosecutors say.

Barden-owned casino begins running TV ads: "In this market, we are the fifth-place boat when it comes to revenues," Bauer said Monday. "We do not have the name recognition that a Harrah's or even a Trump does in this market, and the purpose behind the TV slots is really to shout in the marketplace who we are and what we're all about, which is slots."

Elko County activists ties to region go way back: Scott Sonner; ELKO, Nev. - Grant Gerber's great-grandfather worked in the gold fields of California and drove cattle in Oregon.

Researcher fears politics could hold up Tahoe money: Scott Sonner; RENO, Nev. - One of the leaders of a new study on Lake Tahoe said Tuesday he's worried partisan politics could hold up federal funding needed fast to reverse the lake's alarming loss of clarity.

Today's girls hoops playoff games: SUNRISE REGION TOURNAMENT

Bill would get Nebraska out of gambling: Kevin O'Hanlon; The Legislature's General Affairs Committee heard testimony Monday on Chambers' bill (LB905), which would abolish the state lottery, effective July 1, 2001.

David Brenner: The Philly Kid: Kirk Baird; Who: "David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance."

Detroit casinos fail to produce expected tax revenue: The shortfall comes largely because the planned Greektown Casino has yet to open and won't until Michigan Gaming Control Board investigators decide whether to license its investors, the News said.

Trial begins for mother and son charged with murder of missing millionaire: Samuel Maull; "Their arrogance and greed overcame their common sense," said Assistant District Attorney Consuelo Fernandez on Monday during the first day of the trial. "They left a trail of bread crumbs, so to speak, from California to Las Vegas, from Las Vegas to Florida, from Florida to New York and to Irene Silverman's home."

Cowlitz Indians end 25-year struggle to gain federal recognition: John Hughes; The new status, which takes effect in three months if no appeals are filed, would allow the Cowlitz to seek the placement of land into a federal trust and then use the land to launch business ventures such as casinos. They also would be eligible for federal aid in areas such as health care and education.

Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: It could have cost more: When dissenting in the recent Nevada Supreme Court's 4-2 ruling to allow two former assemblymen to benefit from the later repealed 300 percent increase of retirement benefits passed in Assembly Bill 820 in 1989, Justice Cliff Young, a former congressman and later state senator, wrote:

Montana man picked up as possible witness in Nevada murder case: A Las Vegas judge set Frazer's bail at $50,000, but District Judge Doug Harkin allowed no bail, saying he would rather Frazer appear before that judge before bond is set. Frazer was identified as the operator of a trucking company.

Book examines 'The Man Who Invented Las Vegas': By Jerry Fink; The Philadelphia native moved to Southern California in 1930 and started the Hollywood Reporter, which quickly became a showbiz bible people in the industry read religiously for gossip and the latest film news.

Latest storm packs wind with snow in the mountains, rain in the valleys: It was the latest in a series of storms this year that all but ended the specter of a dry winter and a gloomy ski season.

Witness says both cars dueling in road rage incident: Stephanie Pierce, 30, of Truckee, Calif., underwent several hours of surgery after her husband drove her to Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center following Monday's incident.

Brown's influence with Edwards key to second "scheme": Natalie Gott; Allen Morse, an Alton, Ill., businessman, was testifying about a breakfast meeting at the governor's mansion in the first year of Edwards' fourth and final term as governor.

Judge says performer must return $2 million to United States: U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt issued the order in a lawsuit brought by the former executive director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA's Jeanne Roush claims the money was moved out of the U.S. in an effort to avoid paying legal costs in a suit she won against the Berosinis.