News briefs for January 10, 2002

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

Fired fire captain takes action

A former Clark County Fire Department captain has filed a federal wrongful termination lawsuit against the county.

According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the fire department fired Jeff Atkinson in August 2000 after he tested false positive for cocaine.

Atkinson, who was hired by the department in January 1981, claims that he became addicted to pain medication after injuring himself on the job in February 1999.

Atkinson underwent two unsuccessful knee surgeries in 1999 and after realizing he was addicted to the medication prescribed by his doctor, checked himself into the Montevista Hospital in July 2000.

The lawsuit states that once the department learned about Atkinson's problem, officials forced him to sign a "Last Chance Agreement" mandating that he provide certification of fitness once he was done with his rehab. He also agreed to random drug testing.

Atkinson was still in rehab when he falsely tested positive for cocaine, and the department refused to retest him, the lawsuit alleges. The department also failed to reply to his request for a hearing.

He is seeking unspecified damages on the grounds of wrongful termination and breach of contract.

State tax agency plans workshop

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said the state Taxation Department will conduct a workshop Jan. 15 in Las Vegas on regulations to ensure Nevada receives its full share of the tobacco settlement.

Nevada is expected to receive $1.2 billion over the next 25 years. Del Papa said the settlement allows the cigarette companies that signed the agreement to reduce their payments if they can show a market share loss of more than 2 percent.

To prevent this, Nevada must enforce a state law requiring manufacturers that did not sign the settlement to place in an escrow account revenues equaling 1 cent per cigarette sold. The state may later recover money from that account for health-care related costs.

Del Papa said to ensure the law is enforced, the Taxation Department must require cigarette wholesalers to report the number of cigarettes sold, broken down by brand.

The workshop is 9 a.m. at the Sawyer State Office Building.

Perkins named to task force

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, has been named to a national legislative task force on anti-terrorism laws.

Perkins said he was asked by the president of the National Conference of State Legislatures to serve because of his law enforcement background and his leadership in the Legislature. He is deputy chief of the Henderson Police Department.

He has asked for several bills to be drafted on the subject for the 2003 Legislature.

The national task force will meet in early February in Washington, then in mid-March in New York.

State leaders meet in D.C.

Jack McLaughlin, state superintendent of public instruction, is in Washington for briefing on the newly passed education bill, which should funnel about $33 million more to Nevada.

McLaughlin said President Bush's bill will help states improve student performance while "offering them historic levels of financial support and unprecedented flexibility and local control."

McLaughlin was to join other state education chiefs today for a meeting with Department of Education officials over details of the legislation.

A man who was found shot to death

Tuesday in a stairway of the Moulin Rouge hotel has been identified as 24-year-old Derrick Ervin. Metro Police found Ervin about 3:30 a.m. at the hotel in the 900 block of West Bonanza Road near Martin Luther King Boulevard. Anyone with information is asked to call Metro's homicide unit at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.