Print edition for August 27, 2002

Sex offender acquitted of rape, kidnap charges: Kim Smith; A Clark County jury acquitted a registered sex offender of raping a Las Vegas prostitute Monday after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations.

Murphy loses chance at bail: CARSON CITY -- Sandy Murphy, convicted of killing Las Vegas gaming figure Ted Binion, will stay in prison until the Nevada Supreme Court decides her appeal.

Rebels will need to contain the 'other' Anthony Davis: Steve Guiremand; Next up

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gordon still in Winston Cup title hunt: With his win Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon served notice that he still is a contender for the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship.

Ex-Marquette player transfers to UNLV: Blankson has enrolled at UNLV and will not be eligible to play during the 2002-03 season because of NCAA transfer rules. He will be permitted to practice with this year's team and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining beginning with the 2003-04 season.

Stoldal gets new post at Channel 8: By Sun Staff; He will continue to be general manager of Las Vegas ONE, the all-news cable channel that broadcasts on Cox Channels 1 and 39.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Estes, Wilk linked only by profession: Dean Juipe; As defending Invensys champion Bob Estes conducted a series of rapid-fire interviews Monday near the driving range at the TPC at Summerlin, 23 other professional golfers of varying skill levels were immersed in a pressure cooker of a one-day tournament on the course. But they were, for comparison's sake, a million miles away.

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Prof: 'Going for it' isn't such a gamble: Usually, I'm not one to blow my own horn. But this time, pass that trombone.

Money collected to feed horses: The money was collected over the past month in a donation box set up by the Friends at the Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center.

Activists worried about Iraq attack plan Las Vegas protest: Jeffrey Libby; A small group of activists plans to gather Wednesday outside the Las Vegas offices of Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign to ask for full, public congressional debate of the Bush administration's public talk of a potential war with Iraq.

A smirk led to woman's death: Kim Smith; David Crawford was insistent Monday. He only went to Gloria Dugan's house to talk to her, he said again and again.

Relaxing rap: Victoria Sun; The last name Thurston appears frequently on the screen of Brian Elwood's laptop computer.

Anderson, Harvey earn spots in Invensys: The Las Vegas Founders Invensys Shoot Out included 23 golfers and was played at the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin. The PGA Tour's Invensys Classic will be held Oct. 6-13 at the TPC at Summerlin, TPC at the Canyons and Southern Highlands.

LV cultural pioneer Roberts dies: Dancer and actress Jeanne Roberts played many roles on the stage, and in life.

Obituaries for August 27, 2002: Arthur Thomas Amador, 52, of Henderson died Saturday in a local hospital. He was born Feb. 18, 1950, in Long Beach, Calif. A resident for 21 years, he was a state government supervisor and a Vietnam War Air Force veteran.

Columnist Susan Snyder: Taking a Wal-Mart inventory: Yet.

Where I Stand -- Guest columnist Ken Cook: Lifting Yucca awareness: "I THINK they're full of crap," spat the Energy Department's exasperated chief spokesman, Joe Davis, in reference to my organization, "and you can print that in your newspaper."

Flood control reminder available: When accessing the home page (www.ccrfcd.org), visitors to the site will see an icon titled "Click here to download the District's screen saver." Instructions will prompt the user to save the file to his/her computer. After it is downloaded, double-click the file to install it.

Agents arrest man on teen sex charges: Jace Radke; Las Vegas FBI agents have arrested a Washington, D.C., man after he allegedly had sexually explicit e-mail conversations with an FBI agent posing as a 14-year-old girl and arranged to meet the "girl" at a local casino.

Wednesday's horse racing entries: Post Time 2 p.m.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Wednesday's races at Del Mar: Wednesday's card

Letter: No one around to enforce the traffic laws: On the morning of Aug. 12, I was returning to my home in Summerlin from a trip to the airport. At approximately 6 a.m. I was taking the off-ramp onto Far Hills from the Interstate 215 bypass (yes, the same intersection where recently Sandra Thompson was so sadly killed). The light had turned red. I was stopped, looked to my left and was proceeding to make the right turn. Fortunately there was little traffic.

PCL box: Las Vegas - Nashville: Time-- 3:11. Attendance-- 1,758. Umpires: HP-- Ashwege; 1b-- Pasch; 3b-- Armendariz.

Dog park creates extended families: When Robert Gonzaga lost his best friend, Eriq, he had 25 buddies to console him and help him look for the white Maltese.

Editorial: Expand task force on crime: At a City Council meeting last week, Mayor Oscar Goodman said he would like to see the task force become a city-wide effort, so that it covers more than just Meadows Village. As the Sun's Diana Sahagun noted in a story about efforts to expand the task force's scope, there has been a dramatic increase in gang-related murders in the vicinity of Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards, an area that borders North Las Vegas and Las Vegas. There have been 15 killings in that area since January 2001, a period of time that also saw innocent bystanders get ...

Libraries offer computer classes: Pre-registration is required at the branch offering the class. All classes are free and open to public. For times, locations or more information, call 734-READ (7323) or visit www.lvccld.org.

Edwards likely headed to prison in scandal: Melinda Deslatte; BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards said Monday he expects to be ordered to federal prison in the next 30 days while he keeps fighting his racketeering and fraud convictions.

Letter: Pahrump would welcome store: Most of the 40,000 residents would welcome it with open arms.

Osteoporosis seminar planned: Dr. William Litchfield will talk about the symptoms, risks and steps to take to prevent osteoporosis.

Letter: Don't assume it's sound science: How about this: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's assistant for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, Dr. Dale Klein, argued in support of more testing at Nevada Test Site by saying that "from a scientific standpoint you need to have experimental data to go along with the modeling and analytical study."

Company warned against future mistakes: CARSON CITY -- A national educational testing company Monday was warned it would lose its $4.8 million in state contracts if it commits another major blunder.

Community briefs for August 27, 2002: Jon Ralston, Las Vegas Sun columnist, host of "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE, and political commentator on KLAS Channel 8, will present a discussion on the election Wednesday at the Four Seasons hotel.

News briefs for August 27, 2002: The names of three Metro Police narcotics detectives who shot and killed a man police say tried to run over one of the detectives last week were released Monday.

Editorial: Special prosecutor isn't the way to go: The special prosecutor in the case failed to call two key witnesses and didn't subpoena bank records that could have shown whether Mack signed checks to car dealer Joseph Scala prior to the 2001 votes. It's not known for certain if those failures affected the case's outcome, but in the future the city should heed a growing call that the ethics panel instead refer prosecution of political corruption cases to the district attorney's office, which is better suited to oversee the kind of comprehensive probe needed for such important matters.

Columnist targets Wynn's plans for Le Reve resort: A commentary in BusinessWeek magazine's Sept. 2 issue is critical of Steve Wynn's plan to go to public markets for funds to finance his $2.5 billion Le Reve resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

Magic casts its spell: The event, at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo Center at the Venetian hotel-casino, is one of two MAGIC shows produced in Las Vegas annually. Thousands of buyers will peruse 1,800 exhibits on 700,000 square feet of floor space dedicated to clothing and fashion apparel for men, women and children.

Gibbons, Berkley back invasion to oust Saddam: Benjamin Grove; America's military has the physical capability to launch an invasion that would successfully oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said today. But it needs the logistical help, especially the military bases, of a number of European allies and Middle East nations, he said.

Flamingo hit by printing mix-up: Jeffrey Libby; The Flamingo Las Vegas promotional mailer was sent out about 10 days ago, offering visitors three "complimentary" nights -- for $50 a night plus tax.

Judge allows AeroTech suit to go forward: Pro denied the Clark County Fire Department's motions to dismiss the suit, which alleges department officials violated AeroTech's Fourth Amendment rights to protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

North Las Vegas hospital owner's chief executive under fire for pay: Simon Avery; LOS ANGELES -- While it closes hospitals and wrestles to contain costs, Tenet Healthcare Corp. has adopted a special provision that will roughly double the annual retirement payments to its chief executive.

Second tower set for Bellagio: By Liz Benston; MGM MIRAGE said today it will follow through on a much-anticipated plan to add a second hotel tower to its Bellagio casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

Campaign mailers may arrive too late: Erin Neff; In a traditional campaign this would be negative week -- the days late enough in a campaign to strike an opponent without fearing a response in time for the election.

Alleged crime boss may be banned from casinos: The state Division of Gaming Enforcement wants to add Joseph Ligambi, 63, to the "Exclusion List," which contains the names of 154 mobsters, card cheats and others deemed undesirable.

REIT buying Las Vegas medical buildings: Windrose Medical Properties Trust of Indianapolis said Monday it closed its acquisition of five properties in Las Vegas and Memphis for $50 million, funding the deals with proceeds from its initial public offering as planned.

Online classes fit the bill: Jennifer Knight; By now, 19-year-old UNLV sophomore Stephanie Bacus has participated in most of what college life has to offer: late night pizza parties, making friends -- and now, attending class from the privacy of her dorm room.

Shelter grows by nearly 1,000 beds: Stephen Curran; At first glance St. Vincent Plaza, with its tasteful brick facade and modest landscaping, more closely resembles a mid-priced hotel than a homeless shelter.

Suspect arrested at church takes deal: Kim Smith; A Las Vegas man who walked into church three weeks ago and confessed he killed his wife has agreed to spend the next 40 years in prison for his crime.

Department store planned near Summerlin: Mervyn's, which will be one of two anchors along with Target at the shopping center at West Flamingo Road and Grand Canyon Drive, is being developed by Triple Five Nevada Development and plans to hire 200 workers for the 80,000 square-foot department store.

Pro-lottery group airs TV ad: The ad, created for the North Carolina Lottery for Education Coalition, depicts "Bubba" behind a convenience store where South Carolina lottery tickets are sold. North Carolinians have crossed the state line and spent millions on South Carolina's lottery since it went online in January.

SAT improvement seen for high school students: By Emily Richmond; Educators in Clark County said this morning they were cheered by the news that scores on the SAT college placement exam were up statewide, and that they expected similar gains to continue to be posted by students locally.

Teens line up for lunch as campuses are closed: By Emily Richmond; Las Vegas High School senior Peter White shook his head as he surveyed the long lines at his campus cafeteria Monday, the first day of school and the first time students were no longer allowed to leave during the day.

Developers go forward despite increasing opposition: Developers of a proposed community perched on a hill above Red Rock Canyon and the village of Blue Diamond are going forward despite increasing opposition from vocal community and environmental activists.

Vegas tech company faces delisting: That's because it has not yet filed its 10-Q quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the period ended June 30.

Del Papa vows fight in courts against Yucca: RENO -- Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said today the next 18 months are critical in the state's fight to stop the construction of a high-level nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain.

Foster-children programs merger delayed: Cy Ryan and Adrienne Packer; CARSON CITY -- The merger of state and Clark County foster children programs will be delayed six to nine months, and the Summit View juvenile prison will be mothballed because of the budget reductions ordered by Gov. Kenny Guinn.