News briefs for August 9, 2004

Monday, Aug. 9, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

LV woman dies in crash

A 75-year-old Las Vegas woman died Friday when the car she was driving drifted off Flamingo Road near Buffalo Drive.

Audrey Darby was driving a 2002 Buick Century east on Flamingo Road around 6 a.m. when her car traveled off the street and ran into several newspaper racks and a power box, police said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Witnesses told police Darby "appeared ill" prior to the collision. The Clark County coroner's office will determine if she died of natural causes or as a result of the collision.

Man found dead near Lake Mead

A visitor discovered a 39-year-old Las Vegas man dead on the shoreline at Lake Mead's Government Wash about noon on Saturday, National Park Service rangers reported.

The body of Kenneth R. Barnum was found fully clothed about 30 feet away from the water, Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said.

The man was wearing a shirt, shorts and shoes. The cause of his death was unknown Friday, Dey said. The coroner's office was to perform an autopsy.

Vigil planned before execution

The Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty plans to hold a vigil Thursday night outside the Nevada State Prison in Carson City before the scheduled execution of killer Terry Dennis.

Nancy Hart, president of the coalition and a member of Amnesty International, said she expected about 45 people to show up to pray, meditate and chant in protest of the execution.

The execution is scheduled for 9 p.m. and the candlelight vigil will be from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Dennis has told attorneys he does not want any further appeals and would rather be put to death than spend the rest of his life in prison. But Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal defender, said Monday he's petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court following failed efforts to win a stay from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Fire strikes LV convalescent home

A patient at a Las Vegas convalescent home was taken to the hospital this morning after a small fire broke out at the complex.

The patient, who was being treated with oxygen, was taken for medical attention strictly as a precaution after the fire at the Vegas Valley Convalescence Home in the 2900 block of Casa Vegas Street, near the intersection of Maryland Parkway and Vegas Valley Drive, according to Bob Leinbach, a spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.

No other injuries were reported.

As a precaution, 42 patients at the complex were moved to another wing of the facility, Leinbach said.

United Way of Southern Nevada

has given a $48,000 grant to Catholic Charities to help fund a daytime shelter for homeless men until Sept. 30. The shelter, at 1504 N. Main St., provides refuge from the heat from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for up to 100 men.