News briefs for May 12, 2004

Wednesday, May 12, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.

Hit-and-run suspect surrenders

A driver being sought in connection with a fatal hit and run that killed a pedestrian on Las Vegas Boulevard near Nellis Boulevard on Monday night turned himself in to police Tuesday.

Rodolfo Romas-Solis, 37, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of felony hit and run with death.

The victim, a 44-year-old woman, was jaywalking, so police did not consider Romas-Solis to be at fault, and if he had stopped, he probably would not have been charged.

The victim's name is being withheld by the coroner's office pending the notification of her family.

Romas-Solis surrendered to North Las Vegas Police Tuesday, who turned him over to Metro Police.

Items seized at airport to be sold

Boulder City already reaps the benefits from the sale of seized items from McCarran International Airport security checkpoints, and on Tuesday Mayor Bob Ferraro said the city will soon sell items seized at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport, too.

Scissors, screw drivers, and nail clippers are among the items banned from aircraft the city receives to sell.

Mike Plott, a part-time manager of the Boulder City Fitness Center in ABC Park, sells the items on eBay with all profits going to the city.

Confiscated items were previously destroyed by contractors hired by the Transportation Security Administration.

In December, items were donated to Arkansas after officials in that state asked if they could have the items. Then Boulder City officials contacted local TSA officials, and the sale of the items through the city was given the OK in March.

70 seek Boulder City manager post

Boulder City's search for a new city manager attracted 70 applicants, including seven Nevada residents and Boulder City's acting city manager, Vicki Mayes.

The City Council on Tuesday decided to eliminate 25 of the applicants from consideration after the city Human Resources Department said they did not meet the minimum job requirements.

A citizen committee will further narrow the list of applicants to five, who will be brought in for interviews with the council. Mayes will also get an interview with the council because she is a current city employee, city Personnel Administrator Dee Zambetti said.

Mayes, who is also the city clerk, has been the acting city manager since February, after former City Manager John Sullard was pushed out by the council.

The seven-member citizen committee is expected to be appointed by the council on May 25, Zambetti said.

Zambetti said the council will probably interview the finalists in July, and the city could hire a city manager by the end of August. The annual salary for the city manager is expected to be $128,024, she said.

NLV officials' jobs are permanent

Two North Las Vegas acting department heads had the "acting" removed from their titles Monday.

David Bereskin is now utilities director and Karen Storms has been named city clerk, the city announced Tuesday.

Bereskin was hired as assistant director of Public Works, Resources and Facilities Division in 2001.

Bereskin was immediately acting director of the city Utilities Department when the department was created in January. His annual salary is $119,000, the city statement said.

Storms, a city employee since 1991, has held the positions of assistant City Clerk, deputy City Clerk, and records manager. She was made acting City Clerk in January when former City Clerk Eileen Sevigny retired.

Storms' annual salary is $108,000, the statement said.

Probation violated in artifacts case

A Carson City woman will spend 28 days in a substance abuse program and six months in a community correction center after violating her federal probation in connection with the theft of thousands of American Indian artifacts.

Deanne Wilkie had been sentenced to five years' probation and was ordered to pay more than $19,000 in restitution, but during a hearing Tuesday she admitted to failing to complete court-ordered community service, failing drug tests and failing to submit to drug tests.

Wilkie was one of five defendants sentenced as part of Operation Indian Rocks, a federal investigation that uncovered more than 11,000 looted artifacts from sites in Nevada, California and other Western states.