News briefs for February 8, 2005

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.

Driver who shot at officer sought

Authorities are looking for a driver who shot at a North Las Vegas off-duty police officer Monday afternoon.

The officer had seen a red 2005 Mazda driving recklessly on Hacienda Avenue near Rainbow Boulevard, so he called 911 and started following the car, North Las Vegas Police Spokesman Tim Bedwell said. When the driver discovered he was being followed, he shot three times at the officer and hit the officer's vehicle but did not injure the officer, Bedwell said.

The two-door Mazda had damage to its front end and bore California plates 5KZR077. The driver appeared to be a white man, between 18 and 25 years old and was wearing a black hat, police said.

Park Service honors prosecutor

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Stanish, a federal prosecutor in Las Vegas, has received a National Park Service award for her work in prosecuting a ring of looters who stole thousands of Native American artifacts from archaeological sites in Nevada and California.

Stanish and six others who were on a task force that investigated and prosecuted the case received conservation service awards from Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Law enforcement agents and archaeologists examined over 50 sites and recovered more than 11,000 relics that were taken by the defendants. All of the defendants were charged under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and have been convicted.

Gallagher joins D.C. committee

Democrat Tom Gallagher, 60, is headed to Washington, D.C., today as a member of the policy committee of the White House Conference on Aging. The Henderson resident was recommended to the committee by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Gallagher, who challenged Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev, in November's congressional election, will help draft policy recommendations on a range of issues affecting senior citizens, such as health care and prescription drug prices.

The committee will then present their recommendations to Congress and the president, according to a press release from the senator's office.

Man arrested in abuse of children

A 26-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested Monday night on charges of abusing two of his girlfriend's children, Metro Police said.

Osvaldo Lopez Jr. called 911 about 10 p.m. reporting that his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter had stopped breathing, Lt. Brad Simpson of Metro's abuse and neglect detail said.

Medical personnel responded to the home in the 4800 block of East Charleston Boulevard near Nellis Boulevard and took the girl to Sunrise Hospital, where doctors determined she had sustained severe trauma just before being brought to the hospital, Simpson said.

Police took Lopez into custody on two counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm.

The girl was in critical condition this morning at Sunrise Hospital.

The child's 1-year-old brother was taken from the home and placed at Child Haven, Simpson said. Lopez is also accused of abusing him, but that child did not require medical care Monday night.

The children's mother, who is pregnant, was not home when Lopez called 911, police said.

Alleged driver in shooting in court

The alleged driver in the shooting that killed a 60-year-old slot manager who was on his way home is to have his preliminary hearing on the same day as the alleged gunman in the case, and will have a public defender because he says he can't afford his own lawyer.

When he appeared before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace James Bixler this morning, Terrance Bowser also was informed that Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown would represent him.

Bowser and Jamar Green will now both go before Bixler on Feb. 17 for their preliminary hearing on charges of murdering John McKoy,

Police said shortly before midnight on Jan. 31, Bowser pulled up alongside McCoy's car and Green fired three or four rounds of 12-gauge buckshot at it, then Bowser made a U-turn and fled.

McCoy died about six hours later, and Bowser and Green were arrested and charged with murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy. Green was additionally charged with discharging a firearm into a vehicle.

Northern Nevada lawyer suspended

A Northern Nevada lawyer who "appears to have misappropriated approximately $810,000 in client funds" has been temporarily suspended by the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court issued its order Friday against Herman G. Herbig, who has either "fled the state or is hiding within the state." The court said a judgment of $810,000 plus $2.6 million in punitive damages has been leveled against Herbig.

Herbig, who worked in Minden, is temporarily suspended from practicing law until there is a decision from a hearing against him by the Northern Nevada Disciplinary Board of the State Bar.

Initiative hits snag in NLV

A group of North Las Vegas residents who were working to give voters the final say on city union employees' wages have been tripped up by a technicality.

The group gathered enough signatures to put a question on the spring ballot that would have asked city voters to create a law to require new contracts with employee bargaining groups be approved by the voters during city elections.

However, one of the five people who made up the committee that filed the intent to petition for the ballot initiative was not a registered voter in North Las Vegas, City Clerk Karen Storms said.

Initiative petitions are required to have committees of five registered voters from the city, and so the proposed Tax Restraint Initiative did not qualify for the ballot, she said.

Storms said if the group still wanted to get their issue before the voters, "they would have to start all over." Meaning they would have to collect the required signatures again.

The deadline for putting a question on the city's June general election ballot has also passed. That deadline was Jan. 28.

26 arrests made at DUI checkpoint

Metro Police and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers arrested 26 people on suspicion of drunken driving at a Super Bowl DUI checkpoint Sunday at Flamingo Road and Duneville Street.

Officers conducted 94 field sobriety tests. In addition to the drunken driving arrests, officers issued a citation for misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, police said.

In addition to the checkpoint arrests, police took 11 people into custody for alleged drunken driving throughout the valley Sunday night and into early Monday.

Last year, the first time a Super Bowl DUI checkpoint was set up, police arrested 30 people for drunken driving.

On a typical night traffic officers make 10 to 15 drunken driving arrests, police said.

Hospital again accredited

The state mental health hospital in Sparks has had its national accreditation renewed for another three years, officials announced today.

A psychiatrist and a nurse from the Joint Commission on Accreditation reviewed Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services Jan. 19-21 and found no deficiencies, officials said.

Carlos Brandenburg, administrator of the state Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services, said this accreditation permits the hospital to receive about $2 million a year in Medicare and Medicaid money.

In addition, he said the accreditation also permits residency program at the hospital to continue.

The accreditation, said Brandenburg shows the operation is meeting "the national standard in the quality of care." The previous three-year accreditation had expired and a new inspection was needed to retain the designation.

The mental health hospital in Las Vegas was accredited last year, Brandenburg said.

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