News briefs for August 13, 2003

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

Body believed to be homicide victim

The human remains found in a drainage culvert Tuesday afternoon appeared to be those of a homicide victim, Metro Police said.

About 4:40 p.m., someone reported finding the body in the culvert near railroad tracks behind a distribution company along Valley View Boulevard at Tropicana Avenue.

The body had not been identified late Tuesday. Sgt. Jim Young said it may be a homeless man.

"We definitely know at this point that it's not a natural" death, Young said. "The position he was found in was not consistent with a natural death."

He would not elaborate.

The official cause of death is to be determined with an autopsy.

Byron Oj, a taxicab driver who walks by the railroad tracks on his way to work, said he occasionally sees homeless people walking around the area late at night.

The vacant swath of land surrounding the tracks is dotted with trash, and the fences that separate it from the warehouses on either side have large gaps in them.

"In the dark you see people walking around there, and it's scary," Oj said.

AG rules on scholarship funds

The Board of Regents is responsible for determining whether undocumented aliens are eligible for Millennium Scholarship, the state attorney general's office said Tuesday.

Assistant Attorney General Ann Wilkinson said the duties of state Treasurer Brian Krolicki are only to administer the finances of the scholarship program and not to question whether a person is a U.S. citizen.

The regents will discuss the issue Friday at their meeting in Reno.

The opinion was addressed to Krolicki, who wanted to know if it was his duty to determine if students are undocumented aliens before notifying them they had qualified for the Millennium Scholarship.

Wilkinson referred to a 1998 federal law that requires a state that awards post-secondary education benefits to an illegal alien to open the door for the same benefits to citizens of other states.

Wilkinson noted that last month Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced a bill to repeal that federal requirement.

She said the treasurer is not out of compliance with the federal law if he merely hands out the funds to the students who are found eligible by the Board of Regents.

Tile project leads to house fire

A home improvement project ended in disaster Tuesday when an accidental fire gutted a two-story residence at 6116 Kimberly Circle, near Alta Drive and Jones Boulevard.

The owner had been using gasoline to clean his concrete floor on Monday in preparation for installing ceramic tile. Around 11 a.m. Tuesday, investigators believe, residual fumes from the gasoline found an ignition source in the kitchen, starting a fast-burning fire that caused about $65,000 in damage but didn't cause any injuries.

The owner said he was inside the house at the time and barely escaped.

Firefighters arrived on the scene quickly and were able to contain the fire to the home.