News briefs for July 15, 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

Driver killed in pickup crash

A 55-year-old Las Vegas man was killed early Monday when his 1991 GMC pickup truck rolled over on Cold Creek Road near Indian Springs, Metro Police Detective Corey Moon said.

Weldon Sadberry was heading east on Cold Creek Road, 4 1/2 miles from U.S. 95, when his truck drifted off the side of the road and into the dirt shoulder. The truck spun counter-clockwise, rolling onto its right and front end, police said.

Sadberry was thrown from the truck and sustained critical injuries. He later died at University Medical Center.

Police believe the crash was caused because Sadberry wasn't giving his full attention to driving. He also wasn't wearing his seat belt, police said.

This is the 62nd fatal crash in Metro's jurisdiction this year.

Ruling appealed on candidate forms

The state Ethics Commission will appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court a District Court judge's decision that candidates did not have to include information on their financial disclosure statements.

District Judge Bill Maddox had ruled that 26 members of the Independent American Party and one Democrat who ran for political office last year didn't have to include personal information about their finances on the statement. The candidates had turned in forms with only their names.

Maddox said the commission may only verify that the financial disclosure statement was filed by the deadline.

Commission officials said they think Maddox missed a key point in his ruling on what information has to be included in the reports.

Joel Hansen, president and attorney for the party, said he was not intimidated by the prospects of an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Invasive grass to be removed

The National Park Service with assistance from the Nevada Conservation Corps will be removing fountain grass from the shorelines of Lake Mohave through Aug. 15.

Crews will work Monday through Friday from early morning until noon each day. The Nevada Conservation Corps is a job development program for youths.

Removal includes digging the plant, which has the scientific name of pennisetum setaceum, out of the ground with hand tools or applying to the leaves an approved herbicide registered with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Fountain grass has recently been added to the Nevada state noxious weed list because of its ability to invade natural areas and displace native grasses, increasing wildfire danger and impacting desert tortoise habitat.

Fountain grass is originally from northern Africa and the Middle East and has been used for local landscaping. However, it is no longer legal for plant nurseries to sell fountain grass in Nevada.

Court upholds murder conviction

The Nevada Supreme Court on Monday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Damon L. Campbell, sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for the fatal shooting of Luis A. Martinez in an apartment parking lot in Las Vegas in July 2000.

The court rejected Campbell's argument that District Judge Sally L. Loehrer improperly rejected his request for a jury instruction on self-defense.

The court said the jury instruction approved by Loehrer could not have misled the jury about the element of self-defense. The instruction said that Campbell's action would have been justified if he was attacked by a group and faced the threat of deadly force.

Power lost when cable is cut

About 1,000 Nevada Power customers, including the Clark County building that houses the Development Services Department, were without power for most of the day on Monday after someone doing construction cut into an underground power cable, a company spokeswoman said.

The outage lasted from about 10:50 a.m. to 4:35 p.m. and affected customers around the intersection of West Russell Road and Decatur Boulevard, Nevada Power spokeswoman Andrea Smith said.

Suspect arrested in carjacking

A felon was arrested early today in a carjacking incident in which two Metro Police vehicles were rammed, police said.

A man in the parking lot of the Residence Inn by Marriott at Flamingo and Paradise roads was approached about 3:30 a.m. by another man who told him he had a gun. The robber then stole the hotel patron's rented Oldsmobile Bravada, Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, said.

A patrol officer spotted the sport utility vehicle a short time later and began chasing it. The SUV was driven into the parking lot of the nearby Deer Creek Apartments and hit three parked cars.

Then "he intentionally rammed two police cars," Montoya said. Neither the officers nor the suspect were hurt.

A man whose name police had not released early this morning was arrested on charges of two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, two counts of destruction of county property, robbery, felony evading and resisting arrest.