Many LV visitors ignoring the war

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 10:06 a.m.

As the second day of war in Iraq filled television sets tucked above cocktail bars and sports bars and snack bars, Las Vegas visitors largely ignored the news and went for beers, bets or burgers.

The war did not stop 1,000 people arriving at the Riviera Hotel from playing foosball, Al and Mary Carter of Clovis, N.M., said.

"We're worried, but everything's under control," Al Carter said outside the convention hall. Inside, hundreds of fans were playing the tabletop soccer game.

Barbi Gheewala of Baltimore, Md., said she planned to stay in Las Vegas until Tuesday.

"I don't even know what's going on," Gheewala said, although a TV above the bar was locked on CNN Headline News. She said she hadn't had any news about progress in Baghdad since early Thursday morning.

"I'm very concerned, but here I'm away from it for a little while," said Gheewala, who won 40 quarters on a video poker machine in the Riviera Hotel at that moment.

But federal courthouse clerk Kathy Yagich was anything but indifferent as she left work for home in downtown Las Vegas.

Her husband, David, a 20-year Air Force veteran is a technical sergeant at Nellis Air Force Base and works in the hospital.

"He hasn't been called yet, but he could go," Yagich said, leaving downtown before a war protest began.

Wisconsin resident Kris Gehrke walking on Fremont Street said she did not support the Iraq war.

"I see it on TV all the time," Gehrke said. "I guess they mean well."

Hundreds of tourists walked along the Strip as early clouds cleared and afternoon breezes and brief showers gave way to spring-like weather.

Gerri Nicholson, a resident of Ontario, Canada, said she supported the war effort, but at the same time had serious doubts about the U.S.-led war.

"I know something has to be done, but you hate the thought of all these young people getting killed," Nicholson said.

William Hulk of Cleveland said he was a Democrat, but he supported President Bush's war on Iraq.

"This is what preserves our freedom because those guys are in the deserts of Iraq," Hulk said. "We can walk the streets of Las Vegas tonight."

The Estrada family of El Paso, Texas, decided to leave early.

Analivia Estrada, her two children and her husband were buying souvenirs along the Las Vegas Strip Thursday night.

"We were going to stay until Saturday, but we are leaving Friday morning," she said.

The family was at Circus Circus Wednesday when the bombing started in Iraq. "People ran out to buy gas masks and we were wondering, 'What's going on?' " Estrada said.

When the family learned that U.S. troops were in Iraq, they decided to head home.