Las Vegas news briefs for May 16, 2000

Tuesday, May 16, 2000 | 11:39 a.m.

Fourth fatality in accident

A newborn boy delivered by emergency Caesarean section after his mother was fatally injured in an accident Wednesday died early this morning.

Julius Azzari died at 12:31 a.m. at University Medical Center. He becomes the fourth fatality in the crash at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Main Street.

Michael O. Pickett, 24, is accused of slamming into the rear of a car occupied by Mary Lynn Sargent, 46, James B. Hendren, 59, and Michelle A. Jamieson, 22. Metro Police say Sargent was waiting at a red light at Main Street when a pickup driven by Pickett hit her car, pushing it 215 feet through the intersection.

Sargent and Hendren died at the scene. Jamieson died Thursday from injuries sustained in the crash after doctors delivered her son.

Pickett was held without bail in the Clark County jail on several charges related to the fatal accident pending a bail hearing.

Students evacuate Henderson school

A Henderson middle school was evacuated Monday morning at about 11 a.m. after a report of a hand grenade found inside a backpack in a hallway.

The Las Vegas Fire Department bomb squad found the grenade and determined it was a dummy device, and students at Mahlon Brown Middle School, 307 Cannes St., returned to class at about 12:30 p.m.

Clark County School District Police are handling the investigation at the school on the east side of Henderson.

Two killed in beltway collision

Two people killed in a two-vehicle accident Sunday were identified as Las Vegans Gary D. Wakefield and Penelope J. Wakefield.

The couple, both 60, were killed when a sport utility vehicle heading west on the Las Vegas Beltway failed to stop at a red light and collided with their car in the middle of the intersection, said Richard James, a Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman said.

The driver of the SUV was taken to University Medical Center and treated for minor injuries. A mandatory blood test was done on the driver because of the two fatalities, but he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, James said.

Public comment period extended

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has extended the public comment period on a draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the future of the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge.

The extension was granted after Churchill County commissioners and others said the original June 12 deadline didn't give them adequate time to review the voluminous document.

The new deadline is July 12.

"This EIS has generated a large amount of public interest and we are more than willing to provide the extension period," said refuge manager Kim Hanson in Fallon.

The comprehensive conservation plan is designed to guide refuge habitat and public use management for the next 15 years.

Hanson has said the agency's preferred alternative would establish a management priority of conserving and protecting native wildlife.It would also enhance opportunities for compatible uses such as environmental education.