News briefs for June 13, 2001

Wednesday, June 13, 2001 | 10:27 a.m.

Three wounded in gunfire

A man is in critical condition today and two others were injured in an early morning drive-by shooting in an area hit this year by a series of gang-related slayings.

About 12:20 a.m. several gunshots were fired out of a gray car at several people standing in the area of 900 Doolittle Avenue, near Owens Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, Metro Police said.

A 24-year-old man was listed in critical condition in University Medical Center. An 18-year-old man was listed in good condition and a 22-year-old man was treated at the hospital for a gunshot wound and released.

Police are investigating the shootings and suspect gangs may be involved.

Election Day votes canvassed

The Clark County Commission signed resolutions Tuesday canvassing the Election Day votes for a proposed bond issue for a county children's hospital and a special library tax for the city of Henderson.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said 87,574 ballots for the $80 million children's hospital bond issue were cast. Of those, 40,341 favored the project, and 47,233 people voted against it.

Lomax said 237 absentee ballots were thrown out because they had been improperly marked, were missing signatures or the signatures were invalid. The discarded votes would not have affected the outcome of the election, he said.

In Henderson, 18,446 residents voted on a special elective tax for the library system. Lomax said 7,125 voted for the project, and 11,321 opposed it.

Suncoast hotel evacuated briefly

A fire in a dishwasher forced the second floor of the Suncoast hotel to be evacuated for about 20 minutes on Tuesday.

The fire started about 10 a.m. in the dishwasher in a second-floor banquet area and was quickly doused by an automatic sprinkler system, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

The only damage was to the dishwasher, which hotel management estimated to be worth $60,000. Banquet rooms and a bowling alley are on the Suncoast's second floor.

Also Tuesday Clark County firefighters responded to a fire about 1:30 p.m. and found a mobile home ablaze with rounds of ammunition going off inside.

The fire started in the 6000 block of Great Smokey Avenue, between Lake Mead Boulevard and Carey Avenue east of Nellis Boulevard. A man who was at home at the time was able to jump out a window and was treated for minor smoke inhalation.

The mobile home burned to the ground, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

No one was injured in the blaze or by a box of ammunition that went off during the fire.

Nevada sees decline in registered voters

CARSON CITY -- For the second time this year, the number of active registered voters has declined, Secretary of State Dean Heller said Tuesday.

At the end of May there were 900,575 voters, a decline of about 800 from April. There were 375,642 Democrats, 374,063 Republicans, 125,419 nonpartisan, 4,866 Libertarian, 1,790 Green, 15,692 Independent American, 574 Natural Law, 790 Reform and 1,739 in other parties.

Heller said he was disappointed to see the drop in active voters. "The vote of each and every Nevadan is significant, regardless of the ballot question or political office at stake," he said. But the number is still higher than the 878,970 registered for the November election last year.

At that election, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by about 900 voters. But now Democrats have taken the lead by 579 voters.

Henderson site recognized

The Henderson Convention Center and Visitors Bureau website, www.visithenderson.com, has been named one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Web Sites in Nevada.

Awards for the top websites were presented recently during a banquet sponsored by the Internet Business Alliance of Nevada.

The 10 winners were chosen from 25 nominated websites because of their attention-grabbing pages. The Henderson Convention Center and Visitor's Bureau web site has 25 main pages, 15 sub-pages and 27 virtual tour locations.

"We are very pleased and honored to receive this award," Lisa Jolley, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau, said. "We have worked very hard to make our new website fun, interesting and user-friendly. It is a valuable tool for convention, meeting and event planners, as well as tourists planning their vacation."