Local news briefs for February 26, 2001

Monday, Feb. 26, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Two recent cases not cancer

Northern Nevada medical experts ruled out leukemia as the cause of illness in a Fallon boy, leaving 11 cases confirmed in the farming and Navy town.

The teenager and a second unidentified child were potentially the 12th and 13th children with the most common form of childhood blood disease, acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, announced at a media conference in Carson City on Thursday that the two children were being examined.

The Nevada State Health Division is requesting assistance from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registery, an investigative agency under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, to expand the state's probe into the childhood leukemias.

The federal agency could test Fallon's air, water and soils and blood or tissue samples from the affected children and their families.

Since 1997 a total of 11 children ages 2 to 19 years old have developed the leukemia that destroys bone marrow. Fallon's leukemia rate is about 37 times the expected rate, according to the CDC.

Trial set for retired commander

A trial date has been set for a longtime Metro Police officer accused of having twice the state's legal limit of alcohol in his system during an accident.

Justice of the Peace Anne Zimmerman today set a May 23 trial date for retired Metro Cmdr. Charles Davidaitis, 53, on misdemeanor charges he was under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

Davidaitis is accused of driving his 1999 Toyota Landcruiser into a light pole, a fire hydrant and a chain-link fence on Annie Oakley Drive on Nov. 26. Two breath tests recorded blood-alcohol levels of 0.214 and 0.215, a Metro Police arrest report says. The standard for proving drunken driving in Nevada is 0.10.

Davidaitis, a 22-year veteran of the force, was not present for the arraignment, but his attorney, John Wadkins, told the court he would work with the district attorney's office in the next three weeks to attempt to resolve the matter.

Attorney invested clients' money

The Nevada Supreme Court has voted to disbar Daniel Hurt, a Clark County lawyer who invested his clients' money without their knowledge or permission.

The court said Hurt failed to discuss or disclose the terms of the investments, failed to give the client an opportunity to seek the advice of independent counsel and did not obtain any written consent for the transaction.

Hurt, according to the disbarment order, commingled his personal funds with those of his client trust account to avoid reporting them as income. He transferred the money belonging to his client out of state and never gave an accounting. The court Friday upheld the findings and the recommendations of the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board which conducted the investigation.

Bill would give pay raises

Claiming it is becoming too difficult to entice good people to run for the state Legislature, Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman introduced a bill Friday to give lawmakers an annual pay raise.

Freeman, D-Reno, said she is not sure whether Assembly Bill 228 will pass, given the reluctance by legislators to vote themselves a raise.

"I've been elected eight times and I'm still here," said Freeman, who has sponsored similar measures in the past.

State lawmakers are currently paid $7,800 a session and have not had a raise since 1989. The Nevada Legislature meets every other year for 120 days.