Local news briefs for March 28, 2000

Tuesday, March 28, 2000 | 10:30 a.m.

Samples called safe at park site

Federal and state environmental officials said today that levels of toxic dioxin in soils around Henderson homes and a proposed park site are small enough that there is no threat to people living and playing there.

Ten soil samples taken from the surface by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection showed that dioxin and PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were 1 part per trillion or less, Robert Kelso, state corrective action supervisor, said.

One sample taken from the park site was about 40 parts per trillion, but federal Environmental Protection Agency limits do not require cleanup below 1,000 parts per trillion.

Everyone is exposed to dioxin in food, industrial air pollution, car and truck exhaust and even cigarette smoke, Kelso said.

The levels discovered at the park site do not require a cleanup, Kelso said, but "I wouldn't want children eating the dirt."

Hironaga given three more years

A 40-year-old woman sentenced two weeks ago for her part in the DuPont murder case was sentenced to three more years in prison Monday for a probation violation.

District Judge Jeffrey Sobel gave Diana Hironaga three years in prison for violating the probation she was on for a drug charge by participating in the August 1998 death of Patricia Margello, 45, defense attorney Mace Yampolsky said.

The prison term will be served at the same time as the 15 1/2-year sentence she received in federal court for Margello's murder, Yampolsky said.

According to court testimony, Christopher Moseley hired Hironaga, Ricardo Murillo and Joseph Balignasa to kill Margello because he didn't approve of her relationship with his stepson, DuPont Chemical Corp. heir Dean MacGuigan.

Moseley and Hironaga received 16 1/2 years and 15 1/2 years, respectively, after pleading guilty, and Murillo got two life sentences. Balignasa received a 25-year sentence.

State wants DOE suit dismissed

State Engineer Michael Turnipseed and the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects asked the U.S. District Court to dismiss the Department of Energy's lawsuit over a request to use ground water in its plans to build and operate a nuclear waste repository.

The Nevada agencies argued that the DOE should file its complaint in state court in Tonopah, as state water law requires for an appeal, Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said Monday.

In February Turnipseed denied the DOE permanent rights to 430 acre-feet of water for use in building and operating a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The state engineer found that the proposed repository is unique and the facility could threaten the public interest.

The DOE sued the state a month later in federal court, claiming Turnipseed's ruling conflicts with congressional action that singled out Yucca Mountain as a permanent repository for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive commercial and Defense Department wastes.

Supreme Court upholds verdict

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that the owner of a closed brothel in Pahrump breached a contract to sell the property to a New Zealand man.

The court ordered James Miltenberger, owner of Sherry's Ranch, to repay Jose Cosio $10,000 in connection with the deal that fell through.

Miltenberger claimed Cosio loaned him the $10,000. Cosio said it was part of the payment for the bordello.

In 1993 they agreed on a $5 million sale with $1 million down and the rest to carry an interest rate of 8 percent. But the deal was never completed.

The court upheld Clark County District Judge Sally Loehrer, who held a nonjury trial and decided Cosio should be refunded the money. The Supreme Court said there was substantial evidence that the $10,000 was a payment on the ranch, rather than a loan.