News briefs for March 18, 2002

Monday, March 18, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

Vehicles collide on U.S. 95

A boy was killed and a man was hospitalized after a head-on crash on U.S. 95 near Cal Nev Ari, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

The boy, believed to be about 3 years old, was in a minivan that was passing another vehicle when it slammed into a U-Haul truck about 9:50 a.m. Sunday, Trooper Alan Davidson said.

The 26-year-old driver of the minivan was taken to University Medical Center. Davidson said the boy was in an improperly fastened child seat.

Cal Nev Ari is about 70 miles south of Las Vegas near Searchlight.

Man killed near restaurant is ID'd

A man shot outside a fast food restaurant last week was identified as 38-year-old Septimo Clermont.

Clermont was standing next to a car in a parking lot at St. Louis Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South about 2:30 a.m. Thursday and arguing with two people inside the car, Metro Police said.

Shots were fired from inside the car at Clermont, killing him, police said.

Ronny Garcia, 29, and Lose Lazo, 28, were arrested a short time later and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on murder charges, police said.

Deadly conditions exist in Wasatch

The dangerous avalanche conditions that led to two snowboarders' deaths in Utah's Wasatch Mountains on Saturday will persist this week, forecasters warned.

Allen Chatwin, 18, of Henderson and Richard Jones, 19, of Holladay, Utah, died while traversing the back country near Brighton ski area, a dozen miles east of Salt Lake City. They were among a dozen snowboarders who left a chair lift at Brighton to ski out of bounds below Pioneer Peak.

The group triggered an avalanche that broke six feet deep and 200 feet wide, sliding 800 vertical feet down a slope.

With another 6 to 12 inches of snow expected today in the Wasatch Mountains, the avalanche danger remains high.

Cities plan upgrade of street

The cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas plan to spend $1 million to improve 1 1/2 miles of Owens Avenue between Interstate 15 and Eastern Avenue.

In addition to removing old pavement and installing new asphalt, sidewalks and street lights will be installed on the south side of Owens Avenue between Las Vegas Boulevard North and Bruce Street. Median islands will also be upgraded on the street that marks the boundary between the two cities.

Construction starts this month.

A shooting in the Circus Circus

parking lot west of the hotel about 7:30 p.m. Sunday was apparently gang-related, Metro Police said. A 21-year-old man was in fair condition at University Medical Center this morning.