News briefs for March 15, 2002

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 10:50 a.m.

Victim found slain in NLV

An autopsy determined a woman found dead in her North Las Vegas home this week was beaten to death.

Eleanor Welgoss, 75, was found dead by police on Monday after officers went to her home at 4500 of Ryder Lane, near Craig Road and Simmons Street, to check on her welfare.

Officers looking through a window spotted Welgoss on the floor, and forced their way into the home, police said.

Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call police at 633-1773 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Arraignment is delayed one week

Las Vegas Councilman Michael Mack's arraignment on allegations that he broke the city's ethics code has been continued one week.

Mack's hearing date in Municipal Court has been rescheduled to 1 p.m. March 26.

Mack will appear before Municipal Judge Bert Brown on misdemeanor charges of abusing the city's ethics code on five occasions when he voted to deny a car dealership application without disclosing he had a financial relationship with a rival car dealer.

The Las Vegas Ethics Review Board on Feb. 14 directed attorney John Graves Jr. to pursue the matter in Municipal Court, after ruling Mack willfully violated the city's ethics code.

If Mack is found guilty, he could be removed from office.

Looser payment plan allowed

The Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a rule change that will give Nevada Power Company customers greater flexibility to pay their electric bills in the coming months.

The ruling enables customers to spread equal utility payments over a 12-month period at any time during the year instead of just in October, as was past policy for the Equal Payment Plan.

Under the change, customers can take advantage of normally lower power bills during the last few days of this winter and spring, then apply for the plan just before the start of the peak-use summer and make payments that are lower and more evenly spread out over the next year.

Coffee burn leads to gas fire

After burning himself with hot coffee this morning, a Las Vegas man managed to avoid being burned in a gasoline fire when his car collided with a gas pump.

The accident happened about 6:30 a.m. at a service station at Lake Mead Boulevard and Rock Springs Drive, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

"Apparently he had finished filling up with gas, and then he got in his car and spilled hot coffee on his leg causing him to drive into a gas pump," Szymanski said.

The pump caught fire causing $50,000 in damage, but automatic shut-offs stopped the fire from spreading to the station's gas tanks.

"It's not like the movies where the entire station blows up," Szymanski said.

Man charged in teen's death

An 18-year-old Las Vegas man charged with murder in the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy has entered a plea agreement.

Rex Alvin Jimerson pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon and will be sentenced to two to 20 years in prison April 25, Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou said.

Jimerson and witnesses to the incident told police Jimerson was pistol-whipping Moclanail Rogers on Sept. 19 when the gun went off, a shot striking Rogers and killing him.

Series of home thefts probed

Metro Police are looking for for a group of Gypsies in connection with a series of thefts.

The suspects, who speak with middle European accents, reportedly gain entry into the homes of elderly citizens by posing as home health care workers, police said.

Both men and women are involved in the thefts, in which one suspect distracts the resident while another steals cash, credit cards and jewelry.

The suspects move in groups of two to five, and will use any ruse to get inside a home, Officer Ruben Hood said.

"We don't know exactly how many there are, but we think there are several families involved," Hood said.

Citizens are asked to report any suspicious individuals who say they are home health care workers by calling 311.

Board approves funds for new hires

Clark County School District's facilities division will get 106 new workers to help with the construction boom in the nation's fastest-growing school district, including carpenters, electricians, welders and inspectors.

The School Board approved spending $12.9 million annually in bond funds and motor vehicle privilege tax revenues to pay for the new hires. The jobs will be filled over the next six months and then phased out after construction work peaks, said Dave Broxterman, administrative manager for the facilities division.

Plane hits two-story building

The wing of a private plane still protruded from the roof of a two-story building Thursday where six people escaped serious injury in a crash just short of the airport during a snowy landing.

"They were very fortunate. The plane severed a sprinkler line, which doused the fuel to keep a fire from starting up," Reno Fire Capt. Dale Kiriaze said.

The twin-engine King Air 200 punched into the roof of the two-story ILSI America Inc. building in a business park southwest of the airport shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday.

"Everything looked fine until about a mile before the airport, they disappeared. There was no radio communication to indicate there were any problems," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jerry Snyder said from Los Angeles.