News briefs for March 11, 2003

Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

Police close LV nightclub

Metro Police closed El Sinaloense Nightclub at Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway on an emergency basis Saturday morning after a site check.

Clark County Business Licensing and police had received numerous complaints of fights, stabbings, shootings, underage drinking and exotic dancers at the business in Commercial Center.

When police arrived early Saturday to check the club's activities, a total of 39 citations were issued, 19 for minors loitering where alcoholic beverages are sold, seven for curfew violations, nine for minors consumer alcohol and one for an employee working without an alcohol awareness card.

Two other citations were issued for obstructing a police officer and another citation for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Officers also issued a total of 36 notices of non-compliance to the club for allowing minors in a bar, for allowing minors to consume alcohol, seven for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one for employing without an alcohol awareness card.

Workshops planned on nuke containers

A public workshop has been scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. today to prepare Las Vegas residents for a formal workshop by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday concerning test on containers planned for shipping nuclear waste.

Shundahai Network, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force and Public Citizen are sponsoring tonight's discussion at the County Government Center's Commission Chambers, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway.

The testing involves nuclear waste that would be shipped to a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

NRC staff will conduct a separate workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the county's Building Department office at 4701 W. Russell Road.

The NRC will then hold another workshop Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Pahrump.

Fallon parents want new water

Parents are demanding school officials provide Fallon children with arsenic-free drinking water, but town leaders said there's no need because a new water treatment plant will be in place to remove the toxin in a year.

Parents, arsenic experts, lawmakers, activists, and other critics argue that steps should be taken in the meantime to prevent children from drinking water containing the poison.

They said it doesn't matter if their exposure is limited to another week or year. They said children are more vulnerable to cancer-causing substances and deserve better protection from Fallon's water, which is at more than 10 times the new health standard for arsenic, a carcinogen.

Mustang Ranch to be torn down

The Mustang Ranch, Nevada's first legal brothel and its most famous, will be demolished while federal officials decide what to do with the property the IRS seized three years ago, land managers said Monday.

The ranch's pink stucco main building and a smaller unit will be destroyed rather than renovated, said Mark Struble, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management.

"The buildings were built for a specific purpose in mind and they realistically can't be used for anything else," Struble told the Associated Press Monday.

Both riverfront buildings are within the Truckee River floodplain and violate building safety codes. He said the agency has not decided when or how the buildings will be demolished.

The legal house of prostitution 15 miles east of Reno has been closed for three years.

The 104-room Mustang Ranch was taken over by Joe Conforte in 1967 during a time when prostitution was illegal.

In 1971, it became the state's first legal brothel and led to the movement that legalized prostitution in 12 of Nevada's 17 counties. Twenty-eight licensed brothels now operate.

Conforte fled to avoid tax charges more than 10 years ago.

The Las Vegas Fire Department's bomb squad

was called out to the 3000 block of Cedar Avenue near Mojave Road about 9:30 a.m. today on a report of an artillery shell found in a parking lot. Authorities determined the shell was a souvenir and was not a hazard, fire department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.