News briefs for Oct. 2, 2003

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 | 9:36 a.m.

Spanish Trail victim is ID'd

A man found dead inside his home Saturday in the upscale Spanish Trail area has been identified by the Clark County coroner's office as Harold Henry Seeman, 70. Police believe someone killed Seeman.

Seeman's family contacted authorities after not hearing from him in several days. Police found his body and evidence of a fire that had been set in a possible attempt to conceal evidence.

Anyone with information on Seeman's homicide is asked to call Metro's homicide unit at 229-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Slain 7-Eleven clerk is named

The 7-Eleven clerk shot and killed outside the store in North Las Vegas on Tuesday has been identified by the Clark County coroner's office as Kelvin Bias, 28, of Las Vegas.

North Las Vegas Police are still searching for the gunman. Police said Bias was sweeping the sidewalk in front of the store when a man approached him holding a semiautomatic handgun, asked about his tattoos and shot him.

The man left in a car with several other men, police said. The car was found abandoned several hours later.

Lee Gammage, 48, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing beer from the 7-Eleven while Bias lay dying in front of the store, but police said they haven't found any evidence linking Gammage to the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Las Vegas Detective Bureau at 633-1773 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Hearing on Roberts postponed

A District Court judge on Wednesday was expected to select a treatment center for the former Henderson priest who pleaded guilty to abusing five teen boys. But the hearing was postponed until Dec. 3.

Mark Roberts will remain on house arrest until the new hearing. At that time District Judge Donald Mosley will announce the facility where Roberts will carry out his three years' probation. Authorities would not comment on where exactly Roberts is being held in the interim.

Roberts was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to relocate to a Missouri treatment center. But the Department of Parole and Probation in that state denied Roberts placement and Roberts returned to Mosley's courtroom for re-sentencing.

Officials there alluded to media attention surrounding the case, as well as the fact that one of the victims attends school 20 to 30 miles away, as reasons for the refusal.

Mosley said the Nevada Department of Parole and Probation would find another facility at which Roberts could serve his probation.

Home builders to appeal decision

The Southern Nevada Home Builders Association at its monthly meeting gave its lawyers the go-ahead to pursue an appeal of a recent District Court ruling that upheld a county ordinance that requires a two-thirds vote by the Clark County Commission to approve zoning changes.

The association's lawyers will now explore grounds on which to make an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the association, said Wednesday.

The District Court ruling late last month will make it more difficult for local developers to receive zoning changes from the Clark County Commission.

District Judge Valerie Adair ruled that state law does not prohibit the commission from requiring a two-thirds majority vote -- five out of seven commissioners -- to make zoning changes.

The ruling went against the association, whose attorneys had argued that the county couldn't impose anything more than a simple majority vote.