Print edition for March 6, 2001

Atkinson Gates eyes run for Congress: Adrienne Packer; Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera might be considered the lead candidate for Congress, but the young politician many have labeled "anointed" is hardly alone in the race.

Family of slain Frenchman plans lawsuit: Keith Paul; The family of a French citizen who died in the Clark County jail during a struggle with guards planned to file a federal lawsuit this morning claiming there is an "atmosphere of lawlessness" inside the jail that allows excessive force without fear of discipline.

Las Vegas news briefs for March 6, 2001: Las Vegas-based Internet business PurchasePro said it plans to acquire BayBuilder, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based tech company in a deal worth $15 million in cash and stock.

Sun All-State second team boys basketball and honorable mention: HONORABLE MENTION: Matt Alleman, F, Elko, Jr.; Michael Attig, G, Moapa Valley, Sr.; Jeremy Atwater, C, Las Vegas, Jr.; Paul Bania, F, Bishop Gorman, Sr.; Josh Brown, F, Valley, Sr.; Justin Burns, F, Bishop Gorman, Sr.; Chris Carr, G, McQueen, Sr.; Lowell Egan, G, McDermitt, Jr.; Pat Harrigan, C, McQueen, Sr.; Joe Heaton, G, Galena, Jr.; Jamar Jordan, G, Green Valley, Sr.; David Lainhart, G, Foothill, Sr.; Seth Lee, G/F, Douglas, Sr.; Cody Longero, F, Carson, Sr.; Micah Lund, G, West Wendover, Sr.; David Padgett, C, Reno, So.; Mike Paulos, G, The Meadows, Sr.; Jason Petrimoulx, F, Cimarron-Memorial, So.; Kevin ...

Time to nominate for Mother of the Year: The deadline to submit nominations is April 16. The 31st annual awards presentation will be at 2 p.m. May 6 at the Gold Coast.

GAO to probe letter alleging Yucca mismanagement: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- Officials with the General Accounting Office will investigate charges made in an anonymous six-page letter that allege mismanagement at the Yucca Mountain project. It's not clear when the investigation will begin or conclude.

Frohlich, Lady Rebels looking for support in tournament: Steve Guiremand; Wednesday

Legislative briefs for March 6, 2001: The Assembly Government Affairs Committee Monday introduced a bill to require that mayors and city council positions be partisan offices.

Columnist Kate Maddox: Juggling shows fun in Vegas: Kate Maddox; This month will mark the opening of two new shows on the Strip, both billed as "never-before-seen" concepts.

Fund set up for family of slain woman: Pattison-Adric, her grandfather, Yoshio Kato, 82, as well as her 75-year-old grandmother, Sally Kato, were killed in her grandparents' home at 1516 Valley Crest Street Saturday evening.

Sun All-State girls first team basketball capsules: Statistics: 7 ppg, 5 apg, 3 spg

Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: UNLV blew Pitino deal: WE COULD have been a contender.

UCLA pitcher hurls no-hitter against UNLV: It was Freed's third career no-hitter. UNLV had not been no-hit since a 1-0 loss to Arizona on Feb. 22, 1991. The Rebels have had only four no-hitters pitched against them in the school's history.

Sun All-State Girls Basketball Player of the Year:Burton a two-sport threat: Spencer Patterson; When Kellie Burton first tried out for Galena's volleyball team four years ago, she did so mainly to stay in shape for her first love: basketball season.

Community briefs for March 6, 2001: A lecture on the teachings of philosopher Isaiah Berlin is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Friday at UNLV in the Classroom Building Complex, Building B, Room B-225.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Wednesday's races at Santa Anita: 2nd Race -- Star Performance - Training at Hollypark, one-of-two Frankel-trained 'hidden entry' here, hustling Espinoza atop here. Indigo Myth - The 'other' Frankel trainee, Solis scales here, connections are dangerous in these spots. Value Play -- Neotorque

Bell won't run again for DA: There most likely won't be a Clark County district attorney named Bell for the first time in 16 years come 2003.

Vegas sports on TV/Radio: Vegas sports on TV/Radio

Rudin spy material described: Kim Smith; The former manager of a Las Vegas Spy Factory store testified this morning that Margaret Rudin purchased between $1,200 and $1,500 worth of electronic listening devices about three years before her husband was killed.

Defendant said to be 'functionally illiterate': A man charged with causing a fatal auto accident last March was described by a psychologist as "functionally illiterate" with "mild mental retardation."

Columnist Ron Kantowski: TV station blew it on Pitino: Attention Channel 8: The next UNLV basketball coach will not be Red Auerbach (too old), John Wooden (too revered) or Adolph Rupp (too dead). Check it out with your "reliable" sources.

Gaming briefs for March 6, 2001: Edith Baker's attorney, Will Denton, said President Casino's parent company, The President Riverboat Casino Mississippi Inc., wouldn't settle with his client until he obtained a video surveillance tape of the 1996 incident.

Editorial: Pollution audit is overdue: As the Sun's Launce Rake noted in a story Monday, the program has come under fire from environmentalists who have charged that the program basically has allowed some companies to pollute while others have made money by selling their emissions credits. Sen. Dina Titus, a Las Vegas Democrat, and Sen. Jon Porter, a Henderson Republican, believe that an audit is warranted. Both are warning that they will pass legislation requiring an audit if the health district refuses to do so.

Advocates for poor urge Guinn to release money for needy families: Scott Sonner; RENO, Nev. - Gov. Kenny Guinn and others have widely exaggerated the success of welfare reform across the nation and Nevada, where 16 percent of the state's children still live in poverty, advocates for the poor said Tuesday.

Letter: Guinn failing as state leader: But his failure to deliver the same strong message to Bush is shocking. Has our governor, perhaps, forgotten what his job is and for whom he works? As a reminder, it's the citizens of Nevada. Has he forgotten that our -- and his -- state is now facing a critical time with the nuclear waste situation very much in question. We need strong, uncompromising leadership from our governor when it comes to being a primary communicator to the Republican administration in Washington, D.C. He must be a primary advocate against nuclear waste in Nevada.

Sun All-State second team girls basketball and honorable mention: HONORABLE MENTION: Annie Baxter, G, Galena, Sr.; Jill Bentley, G/F, McQueen, Sr.; Melissa Cejas, C, Las Vegas, So.; Jayme Connors, C, Silverado, 6-2; Lyndsay Gensler, G, Bonanza, So.; Meghan Gradert, F, Carson, Jr.; Traci Graham, G, McQueen, So.; Kari Gregory, C, The Meadows, So.; Lacy Griffin, F, Lund, Sr.; Sheena Harvey, G, Eldorado, Jr.; Danielle Hicks, G/F, Sparks, Sr.; Joanna Hixon, G, Galena, So.; Delicia Jernigan, G, Mineral County, So.; Jennifer Koch, F, Reno, Jr.; Maggie Lazzari, G. Wooster, Sr.; Misty Nguyen, G, Reed, Sr.; Sydney Orndorff, G, Mineral County, So.; Darci Sandoval, G, Centennial, Jr.; Brandee Smith, G, Yerington, ...

Charges dismissed against detective's employee: District Judge John McGroarty on Monday dismissed theft charges against the former office manager of a well-known private detective.

Las Vegas out of hunt for Grizzlies: "We are in the final two," Steve Perry, chief of staff for Gov. Mike Foster, said during remarks to the Press Club of Baton Rouge.

Immunization schedule: NORTH LAS VEGAS PUBLIC HEALTH CENTER: 1820 E. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite F, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Escape Artist: Author to share life story at area library: When Sattareh Farman Farmaian first came to the United States to attend school in 1944, she discovered that Americans knew little, if anything, about her home country, Iran.

County unveils plan for dust: A long-awaited plan to control stray dust in the Las Vegas Valley was to get a public airing today.

N.J. firm agrees to buy closed Henderson computer school: Kevin Ferguson; A New Jersey company that runs 14 vocational schools nationwide hopes to acquire the Henderson campus of the bankrupt Computer Learning Centers Inc., and plans to resume the training of more than 150 students that were left in limbo when classes were abruptly halted in late January.

Letter: Always listen to police officers: When I got my driver's license my father, then a Metro detective, gave me the first rule of the road. "If you get pulled over, for anything, put your hands on the steering wheel and don't move until the officer asks you to move. If you have to reach for something, ask for permission or tell the officer exactly what you are reaching for. Move slowly and deliberately. Don't ever give the impression that you have a weapon or are concealing something that could be mistaken for a weapon."

Letter: Too many are too concerned only with rich: What's wrong with this picture? Could we please elect some officials who have some cojones and are not afraid to say no to Steve Wynn and all the other multibillionaires they pucker up to?

Sun All-State Basketball Teams: Players of the year showed their true value: Spencer Patterson; Cream of the Crop

Editorial: Attempt to defang local animal control: Collins maintains that his bill won't affect existing local ordinances, but one section of the bill does mindlessly ban any local government requirement that an animal be spayed or neutered. The Las Vegas Valley Humane Society also notes that Collins' billl would take away the authority of local governments to restrict the care of wild or exotic animals, such as lions or other potentially menacing animals. The fact is that if local governments wanted to tighten animal control, they couldn't do so if Collins' bill became law.

Flow of traffic at race pleases LVMS officials: Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials were "ecstatic" over the traffic flow into and out of the facility for Sunday's fourth annual NASCAR Winston Cup race, but vowed to keep working to improve the situation.

Utility merger at risk: Nevada's top electric utility executive says that the company's acquisition of an Oregon utility is in jeopardy and that the deal's collapse will cost Nevada ratepayers millions of dollars.

UNLV has no plans to rush as coach search goes on: Steve Addy; Rick Pitino decided he'd had enough of UNLV's courtship, but it doesn't mean the school will pick its new coach on the rebound.

Democrats meet with state's business leaders: CARSON CITY -- Feeling a bit left out, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have arranged a private meeting for today with representatives of the state's larger businesses to discuss the state's priorities and possible taxes.

School reorganization faces new problems: Terry Webster; As Clark County School District officials went over highlights of a new reorganization plan during a public forum Monday night, a financial crisis and the threat of a new teacher shortage refused to go away.

Washington news briefs for March 6, 2001: Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., leaves Thursday for a trip to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador to assess America's sizeable investment in the drug war.

Fallon water samples drawn in wake of leukemia cases: Nevada health and environmental experts began collecting samples from a dozen private wells on Monday to measure about 80 potential contaminants that might hold the missing link among 12 cases of childhood leukemia in Fallon.

Sun All-State Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Day showed way for Western: Spencer Patterson; Ask most casual high school basketball fans about this year's Western Warriors, and you're likely to hear about a high-flying group of athletic guards who pushed the tempo and filled up the nets from 3-point range.

Rebels win last two games in Texas event: The Rebels' Brent Johnson went 3-for-3 with two RBIs in the opening game against the Sycamores.

Betting-ban foes step up lobbying: Benjamin Grove; WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers, lobbyists and gaming executives are using a high-pressure defense this week to sideline a bill that would ban betting on college sports in Nevada casinos.

Obituaries for March 6, 2001: May Adams, 78, of Las Vegas, died Saturday in Las Vegas. She was born July 16, 1922, in Pensacola, Fla. A resident for 29 years, she was a retired health caregiver.

Cochran considers taking Finks case: Keith Paul; Nationally known attorney Johnnie Cochran's firm is looking into last week's shooting death of a 16-year-old high school student by a North Las Vegas Police officer to determine if it will represent the family.

Legislators preparing measure of Yucca disapproval: CARSON CITY -- A resolution stating the Nevada Legislature's official disapproval of the proposed nuclear dumpsite at Yucca Mountain is scheduled to be introduced in the Senate today.

Columnist Susan Snyder: Fine art makes way to Vegas: If you doubt Las Vegas' ability to attract "real" art, a few minutes with David Carver will cast some doubt on those doubts.

Mandalay, Park Place said to be looking at riverboat: David Strow; After two years of torrid acquisition activity, attractive deals are becoming scarce in the gaming industry.

Firm renews proposal to bury waste in salt caverns: An oil and gas exploration company has revived an idea to bury deadly radioactive wastes in salt caverns 10,000 feet under land or sea, a plan the federal government had put to rest.

Work card system called 'bloated monster': CARSON CITY -- The work-card system in Southern Nevada has become a "bloated monster," a Metro police official told a state Senate committee Monday.

Pardons Board sets hearing to consider Nevius case: SANDRA CHEREB; RENO, Nev. - Gov. Kenny Guinn has called a special meeting of the Nevada Board of Pardons to consider clemency for Thomas Nevius, who was sentenced to die for the 1980 killing of a Las Vegas man.

School coping with death of teacher: Jace Radke; Monday proved to be a long, emotional day for the students and staff at Christensen Elementary School as they dealt with the loss of second grade teacher Debra Block Adler.

Sun All-State boys first team basketball capsules: Statistics: 19 ppg, 8 apg, 8 rpg

Guinn proposes $10 million for reading program: CARSON CITY -- Using the Clark County School District as a model, Gov. Kenny Guinn is proposing a $10 million program to ensure that every child is able to read by the end of the third grade.

Las Vegas home builder files for Chapter 11: Legacy Homes in dispute with lender: Grace Leong; A home builder with five Las Vegas-area developments totaling 1,000 lots has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to protect its assets from being foreclosed on by creditors.

McDonald must face ethics trial on March 20: Diana Sahagun; District Judge James Mahan will not throw out a malfeasance charge against Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, putting the councilman's trial two weeks away.