Thursday, June 17, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.
Police search for slaying suspect
Metro Police are asking the public to help them find Raymond Alton Garrett.
Garrett is wanted in the fatal beating of Michael Born, who was attacked while changing his car battery in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the 200 block of Nellis Boulevard near Charleston Boulevard on June 2.
Garrett is black, 37 years old, 6-foot 2 and weighing 275 pounds, police said. He was last seen wearing a white tank top, black pants, white tennis shoes with a dark colored doo-rag over his head.
Garrett was arrested on charges of robbery and battery with intent to commit robbery at his home near Pecos Road and Lake Mead Boulevard on June 11, but Garrett was released from the Clark County Detention Center on bail Sunday morning.
Anyone with information about Garrett's whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or Metro's robbery section at 229-3591.
Neonopolis sued over cabaret plans
An Ohio businessman who claims he was refused space at Neonopolis on Fremont Street for a cabaret nightclub is suing the mall owners to recover more than $200,000 he said he spent preparing the site.
Donald Troxel, the businessman, also is suing for unspecified damages, his lawyer, Allen Lichtenstein, said Wednesday.
"He spent money based on their representations" that he would be able to lease space, Lichtenstein said. "Specifically they refused him space ... because he's gay and was going to attract a gay clientele."
After Neonopolis declined to lease space to Troxel, he went public with his accusations of prejudicial treatment, a charge denied by the mall owners, Prudential Securities, which pointed to its internal rules forbidding such discrimination.
Settlement made in officer's crash
A motorcyclist in a Nov. 1, 2001, traffic accident with a North Las Vegas Police officer who had his emergency lights on but not his siren, will receive $50,000 under a settlement approved Wednesday by the North Las Vegas City Council.
Jamie Rickabaugh collided with Officer Brian Merker at the intersection of Lake Mead Boulevard and Pecos Road when the officer turned left in front of Rickabaugh, who had a green light.
According to city documents, Rickabaugh has incurred about $24,800 in medical expenses and claims to need additional surgeries that would cost $66,000.
$1 million to help 16 schools
The state Board of Examiners voted Tuesday to release $1 million to 16 elementary schools that are in need of improvement.
Seven of the 16 schools are in Clark County and they will share $423,623 in an attempt to bring the schools up to par.
The seven elementary schools are Bracken, $61,921; Cambeiro $61,450; Carson, $75,195; Craig, $48,693; Kelly, $65,528; Ronnow-Edison, $83,597 and Wendell Williams, $27,248.
The state already distributed $3 million to schools in need of improvement in June 2003.
So far 54 schools have or will receive money. Cynthia Orr of the state Department of Education told the examiners board that every school that asked for extra money received funds.
Judge denies new trial for Blake
District Judge Sally Loehrer denied motions for a new trial and an evidentiary hearing requested by an aspiring R&B singer charged in a March 2003 triple shooting that left two women dead.
Will Ewing, attorney for Alfonso "Slinky" Blake, claimed a discussion during Blake's trial of prior police record prejudiced the jury.
Loehrer denied the motions without hearing arguments and scheduled Blake's sentencing on June 30. A jury gave Blake the death penalty, but he also will be sentenced on related charges.
A jury found Blake guilty on two counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon for the March 5 killings of Sophear Choy, 19, and Priscilla Van Dine, 22. He was also found guilty of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon in the shooting of Kim Choy, 23, who was shot in the head and hands.
Police and prosecutors allege Blake shot the women execution-style in a desert area of southwest Las Vegas after an argument while the four were moving furniture and personal belongings from Blake's home.
Nursery to give trees to LV
Star Nursery, a chain of landscape and garden supply stores with corporate offices in Henderson, will donate $100,000 worth of trees to Las Vegas following a decision by the City Council Wednesday to approve the nursery's unsolicited gift.
According to Mayor Oscar Goodman, Craig Keough, the nursery's owner, made an appointment with him in May and presented the idea of donating the trees to the city. "The city had been good to him, he said, and he wanted to pay it back," the mayor said at the City Council meeting.
Yucca opponent heads Kerry camp
A grass-roots organizer who has spent the past few years battling Yucca Mountain will lead John Kerry's presidential campaign in Nevada.
Anne Sheridan, who was the national organizer for the Transportation Safety Coalition, an organization formed in 2002 to oppose Yucca Mountain, will head the Kerry campaign here, the campaign announced on Wednesday.
Sheridan worked for Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign in 1988 and spent most of the 1990s as a principal of Dewey Square Group, an international public affairs and grassroots strategies firm, according to a release sent out announcing her new post.
Gov. Kenny Guinn Wednesday
named wildlife biologist James Jeffress of Lovelock to the state Board of Wildlife. Jeffress replaces Brad Quilici who resigned after it was disclosed he had trapping violations dating back several years. Jeffress, 55, worked for the state department of wildlife for 31 years before retiring in March 2003.
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