Print edition for July 18, 2002

Community briefs for July 18, 2002: The Barbara Greenspun WomensCare Center of Excellence will host a seminar from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday on the importance of calcium for women.

Columnist Dean Juipe: Big Macs, not riches, in Ruiz's immediate future: Dean Juipe; Boxing is especially big among Spanish-speaking peoples, so it was reasonable to expect John Ruiz to financially capitalize when he became the first heavyweight champion with an Hispanic background.

Panel seeks to educate employers about rights of workers in Reserves: Dick Benoit; With the nearly 400 Nevada National Guard members, as well as many individual Nevada reservists, having been activated for the war on terrorism, some employers may be wondering how long they should anticipate dealing with absent workers now wearing uniforms.

Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Not amused by adult amusement: Ruthe Deskin; With all that, how can anyone not resent officials having to spend time on debating lap dancing?

Columnist Joe Delaney: Risque productions on the Strip gaining exposure: Joe Delaney; "Midnight Fantasy" (Luxor) came along later; an Anita Mann production, higher in quality and lower in excitement value ... Producer Greg Thompson has two entries: "Skintight" (Harrah's) and "Showgirls" (Rio) ... The first-named is almost exciting at times, while the latter production, with a much larger budget, could be a candidate in the "Jubilee" and "Folies" category.

Las Vegas council briefs: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman learned a hard lesson after Sunday's car accident that totaled his white Mercedes: Buckle up.

Obituaries for July 18, 2002: Joshua Lee Abrams, 77, of Las Vegas died Tuesday in a local hospice. He was born March 2, 1925, in Pittsburgh. A resident for 24 years, he as a retired men's clothier and a World War II Army veteran.

Birth in internment camp didn't embitter Las Vegan: Roy Morihiko Shioji decided early on not to let anger poison his soul or stifle his dreams.

Forget about Harmon-y: Dean Juipe; From dining pals and buddies, and, now, to combatants.

City manager list cut to five: Diana Sahagun; Two Las Vegas deputy city managers, the Boulder City manager, the executive director of the Urban Chamber of Commerce and a private consultant are left competing for the Las Vegas city manager's job.

Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: A tax fix that is fair: Like anything else in life, if it were easy everyone would be doing it. Instead, the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy is trudging along toward a November deadline at which time we will have to provide both the Nevada Legislature and Gov. Kenny Guinn our recommendations for finding the revenues needed to get the state back on an even keel. We might even suggest the ways and means to find the money necessary for legislators to do the job the voters expect them to do. That would be a state in which the quality of life for all citizens ...

Council rejects caps on events: Diana Sahagun; Saying they didn't want caps on the amount of taxpayer money they can spend on special events, members of the Las Vegas City Council watered down a proposed policy that would have made spending more equitable among the six wards.

Swing Set: Couples bare souls in Gantz brothers' Sex With Strangers': Kirk Baird; There are many stereotypes about swinging, the lifestyle choice of couples who engage in sexual encounters outside of marriage with like-minded couples.

Fight schedule: Friday

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: After failed effort in St. Louis, Dixon moves on: Larry Dixon has had two weeks to stew about his inexplicable failure to qualify for the 16-car elimination field at the Sears Craftsman Nationals near St. Louis.

'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' hits home for Las Vegas families: Kirk Baird; The film, which is playing in Las Vegas, is fictitious. At least, it is supposed to be.

Ex-Metro officer will face drug charges: Keith Paul; Prosecutors approved felony drug charges Wednesday against a former Metro Police officer after unlabeled prescription drugs and steroids were found in his Henderson home during a search by federal agents in April.

Auditor settles SEC allegations: PricewaterhouseCoopers neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in the settlement that the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday. The firm agreed to be censured for engaging in improper professional conduct and to make changes in how it operates, the agency said. The violations were related to PricewaterhouseCoopers's approval of clients' accounting treatment of costs that included PricewaterhouseCoopers's consulting fees.

Vegas sports on TV/Radio: Thursday

Editorial: SEC chief can't instill confidence: What Pitt didn't mention in his revisionist history is that he played a key role in creating what he refers to as the "mess." It was Pitt, as a lobbyist for accounting firms, who helped stymie Levitt's attempts in 2000 to end some of the very corporate abuses that today are shaking investor confidence. Regarding Pitt's claim to be a "tough cop," it was also Pitt who claimed early on in his tenure -- before the scandals were revealed -- that the SEC would be "kinder and gentler" under his stewardship. Pitt's efforts to recast his image as a tough ...

Ross hits two more HRs in 51s' win: Ross, who also homered twice in Tuesday's 7-6 win, hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Fresno starter Jeff Williams. He added a three-run homer in the ninth off reliever Jeff Verplancke.

Process of naming of new senators is criticized: Adrienne Packer; Two replacement senators were named to the state Legislature on Wednesday despite at least one applicant and one Clark County commissioner questioning the appointment process.

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Metric would be hectic: When all is said and done, greedy players, owners and agents -- especially the agents -- will be blamed for wrecking sports.

NLV manager gets $10,000 raise: Ed Koch and Mary Manning; The North Las Vegas City Council did not shower City Manager Kurt Fritsch with public praise during his annual review Wednesday, but a $10,000 raise and offer of a three-year contract was a good sign it wants to keep him.

Six officers honored: Officers Kevin Hugins, Rob Aker and Wayne Blackard were given the meritorious service award for saving an 86-year-old woman from a house set on fire by her grandson in 1998.

Sting things: Bark scorpions from Arizona making presence felt in valley: By Timothy Pratt; The thumb-sized scorpions common in the Las Vegas Valley don't scare landscaper Alfonso Ponce. He and his friends barbecued scorpions back home in Puebla, Mexico.

School board members begin self-assessment: By Emily Richmond; To prove they are playing by the same rules they laid out for the more than 27,000 employees they're responsible for, members of the Clark County School Board will meet today to hammer out a plan to hold themselves accountable.

Letter: Now, more than ever, fight waste dump at Yucca: Instead of taking this setback as a rallying point to energize our efforts in stopping the trucks and trains from rolling, and helping our elected leaders in their efforts to block this disservice to Nevadans, we are harping on "compensatory trade-offs" because of the perception that it's already a foregone conclusion.

Cop union: Pulling Herrera endorsement not political: Erin Neff; Law enforcement officials say they were just trying to protect the integrity of their endorsement when the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs voted to pull their support Wednesday from Democratic congressional candidate Dario Herrera.

Zoning denied for proposed hotel: Clark County Commissioners on Wednesday denied a hotly opposed zoning application to build a hotel at the intersection of Joe W. Brown Drive and Desert Inn Road.

Local stagehands eye split with international: Local 720 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees earned a reputation during the bitter 1984 casino industry strike as one of the strongest and most aggressive unions in Las Vegas.

Former officer sentenced in sex assault on inmate: A former corrections officer sentenced Wednesday for one count of voluntary sexual conduct with an inmate plans to ask the court to "have the whole thing reversed and dismissed," his defense attorney said.

Inmate attacks molester in court: A convicted child molester was in court Wednesday to receive his sentence for the sexual assault of two girls under 14.

Court briefs for July 18, 2002: December trial dates were set Wednesday for Luis Suarez and Pedro Duarte, the brothers-in-law of casino robber Jose Vigoa.

Texas tribe pushes on despite casino ruling: Mark Babineck; ALABAMA-COUSHATTA RESERVATION, Texas -- It's 11 a.m., and Clarence Session is headed to his car in the Alabama-Coushatta casino parking lot when a bystander asks if he's leaving.

New rules on billboards may again be amended: Anybody for another look at Clark County's billboard regulations?

Letter: Bush no stranger to cooking books: I agree with him because I realize that if you wanted advice on how to protect a bank from being robbed, the best person to ask would be a bank robber.

Editorial: Raise cigarette tax, but not so steeply: The wins cited by the society are an increase in state revenue, improvement in public health, and a poll taken among 500 Nevadans that supported the hefty increase. We see two problems, though. One, the very government that has programs to combat smoking may look hypocritical as it comes to rely on the increased tax to pay for important programs, such as education. This could be solved by the state remaining committed to its anti-smoking campaigns and dedicating all of the added revenue to health costs. The other problem is not so easily solved. If cigarettes soar in price, the ...

Sprint announces losses of $68 million: Amy Shafer; KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sprint Corp., the nation's third-largest long-distance carrier, announced today that it lost $68 million during the second quarter. Its wireless division lost $170 million.

Task force eyes fee hikes for revenue: The governor's task force on taxes has moved closer to a vote on some noncontroversial changes to help solve a predicted deficit of $2.5 billion by 2011.

Lost Cabin firefighters benefit from rainfall: The storms left a little more than half an inch of rain on the record books, but rainfall in the area was still about 2 inches below average for this time of year, Ron McQueen, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said.

Rebels performing well without supervision: Steve Guiremand; UNLV doesn't officially start fall football practice until Aug. 10. But for about 30 Rebels, you can say it has already begun.

Letter: Congress ignores stock options: When a chief executive officer's or chief financial officer's compensation is driven more by these options rather than his salary, they lose sight of why the company exists. In many cases they will cook the books to aggrandize the picture of the company's financial success, hence artificially raising the price of the stock and resulting in outrageous compensation through these options.

Software maker cutting jobs: The cuts, 16 percent of Siebel's 7,160-person work force, are necessary because corporate technology spending only worsened in the second quarter and figures to stay weak the rest of the year, said Thomas Siebel, chairman and chief executive.

Millie Gohres, who lived a rags-to-riches story, dies: Millie Gohres saw life from many sides. Born to a large family of a poor Southern railroad worker, she became a hard-working adult of modest means. With her third husband, fellow grocery clerk Bill, they amassed a fortune through smart California real estate investments.

Firm marketing to soap fans: SoapCity, located at www.soapcity.com, is run by Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment Inc. and offers coverage of soap opera plot lines as well as links to soap stars' fan sites and for shows including "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful."

Hard Rock fined for allowing sex acts in public: By Liz Benston; The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine to settle complaints about public sex acts in a nightclub at the resort and for other problems, regulators said Wednesday.

Crews take advantage of rainfall: Stephen Curran; New Mexico firefighters Clinton Bellingar and Tom Nelson, part of an elite corps of firefighters specially trained to battle large-scale wildfires, traveled more than four hours to help fight the blaze consuming Lovell Canyon.

Boyd reports profit doubled in quarter: By Liz Benston; Las Vegas casino operator Boyd Gaming Corp. more than doubled its earnings per share for the second quarter compared to a year ago, becoming the second major gaming company to exceed Wall Street profit estimates for the quarter.

Locals' strength reflected in Herbst ratings: Moody's also confirmed its existing speculative-grade ratings on Herbst's debt and corporate profile:

Residents of Kyle Canyon discuss possible evacuation: Some of the 800 residents of Mount Charleston and Kyle Canyon dread the thought of a wildland fire racing up their peaks and the Lost Cabin Fire about seven miles away from them Wednesday night came as a wake-up call.

Ralph Siraco's selections for Friday's races at Hollywood Park: Friday's card

Offices of LV priests made more visible: Stacy J. Willis; The Catholic Church's closed-door image is getting a makeover -- literally -- as parishes throughout Las Vegas install glass windows in priests' office doors.

Earnings briefs for July 18, 2002: CLEVELAND -- TRW Inc., which agreed to be bought earlier this month by Northrop Grumman Corp., said it had a second-quarter profit from continuing operations led by increased sales of air bags and computer-engineering services.

Charges dropped in Laughlin shooting: Kim Smith; Murder charges have been dismissed against a 32-year-old Arizona man who had been the only suspect charged in connection with the April casino melee in Laughlin that left three bikers dead.

National Airlines posts loss for May: The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2000, said that under new lease agreements and rental contracts that take effect with the approval of the airline's reorganization plan, the company would have lost $1.7 million for the period.

Analyst raises gaming estimates: "We expect second quarter earnings results for the majority of gaming companies in our coverage universe to exceed both our estimates and the current Street consensus estimates," Bear Stearns gaming analyst Jason Ader wrote in a research note.

PCL box: Las Vegas - Fresno: A--6,796. T--2:29.

Friday's horse racing entries: Post Time 7:05 p.m.

Mesquite firm entangled in bankruptcy, lawsuits: "The company is looking for between $1 million to $1.5 million in financing to carry it through the remaining slow months of summer through late fall," said James Greene, Paradise Canyon's attorney. "We're looking at our options at this point. We could either sell the property or refinance or restructure our existing debt."

Survey reveals gambling habits: Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas today said its survey shows that the typical casino gambler defies stereotyping.

News briefs for July 18, 2002: Under pressure from political and business leaders, University of Idaho President Robert Hoover said he is reconsidering his decision to leave his post for the new Nevada State College in Henderson.