News briefs for August 31, 2005

Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005 | 10:52 a.m.

Fire doused at Laughlin hotel

Clark County firefighters extinguished a blaze that threatened a popular Laughlin resort this morning, a department spokesman said.

Crews responded to the Riverside Resort about 7:50 a.m. after reports of fire spreading throughout the hotel's first floor, fire department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

The fire was extinguished about 20 minutes later, although firefighters at 8:15 a.m. were monitoring smoke that had spread to the building's second floor, he said. Investigators this morning were looking into what caused the fire.

It was unclear how much damage the fire caused, Leinbach said. No injuries were reported.

Pair charged in robbery, kidnap

Two people remained at the Clark County Detention Center this morning facing charges they beat a local man and stole several items from his apartment, Metro Police said.

Christie Hanna, 28, and Wesley Weidner, 37, were arrested Tuesday on charges that they broke into an apartment near Gowan Road and Rainbow Boulevard the day before and struck the man who lived there repeatedly with a steel nail remover after binding his hands and feet, police said.

Hanna and Weidner then made off with the man's computer, credit cards and his 1996 Ford Ranger, police said.

Officers later saw the victim's truck and matched Weidner and Hanna to a description provided by the man. A search warrant later uncovered the man's property in the pair's apartment in the 3800 block of South Cambridge Street, police said.

They were both charged with robbery, kidnapping, grand larceny and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Angle to file tax amendment

Assemblywoman Sharon Angle, R-Reno, says she intends to file her proposed constitutional amendment today that would limit property taxes in Nevada.

Angle, a GOP candidate for the House of Representatives, will present her petition to the Secretary of State's Office. This will be the first day these petitions are permitted to be filed.

She must gather 83,183 signatures of voters by June 20, 2006 to qualify it for the November ballot. It would have to be approved twice by the voters before it becomes part of the Nevada Constitution.

Her proposal is similar to California Proposition 13 that limited property taxes. In 2004, she sought to gain signatures to put the question on the ballot but fell short.

Probe continues in inmate escape

One prison dental assistant has been fired and a second is facing termination on suspicion of helping an inmate escape from the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, officials said.

Two other employees have been suspended and officials are reviewing the chain of events and procedures to determine how Jody Thompson was able to flee in the back of a prison van Thursday, Prisons Director Jackie Crawford said.

"I hope I'm sending the message to Carson City that we're doing everything in our power to find out what happened and to correct that," Crawford said Monday.

Thompson, serving sentences of 10 to 50 years for armed robbery, remained at large. Authorities believe he's called his mother, Deborah Toney of Pahrump, since his escape and might be in the Las Vegas area.

At least three people should have seen Thompson before he left the prison in the back of the delivery truck, Crawford said.

"Someone is supposed to actually get in the box and in the cab to check," added Greg Cox, deputy director for prison operations.