News briefs for July 7, 2005

Thursday, July 7, 2005 | 11:16 a.m.

Woman killed in collision

A 51-year-old Las Vegas woman was killed Wednesday night when her compact car collided with a pickup truck, police said.

Marka Lanell Luz was northbound on Ringwood Lane near Bonanza Road in a 2001 Daewoo Nubira when her car collided with a 2001 Chevrolet 3500 about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The driver of the truck, 44-year-old Adriana Herbert, was not injured, police said.

Man hit by car while fleeing police

A 37-year-old man was seriously injured when he was hit by car while apparently running from police near the intersection of Lake Mead Boulevard and Arpa Way on Wednesday night, police said.

Stewart Davis was involved in an argument on Arpa Way when several people called police officers to the scene, police said. When the officers arrived, Davis fled from the scene and ran north across Lake Mead Boulevard.

At least one car swerved to avoid Davis, but he was hit by a second car about 6:45 p.m. He was taken to University Medical Center for his injuries and was listed in critical condition.

Jacqueline Mayberry, 45, the driver who hit him, police said, suffered no injuries.

Moped driver hurt in wreck

A moped driver was in critical condition after a traffic collision Wednesday night.

Henry Johnson, 44, was westbound on the shoulder of Bonanza Road next to two stopped lanes of traffic, police said. Jose Rivaz, 40, was driving a 2002 Jeep Liberty eastbound on Bonanza Road in the two-way turn lane and was preparing to make a left turn across the stopped travel lanes, entering the shoulder.

Johnson hit the right side of the Jeep about 4:30 p.m. and was taken to University Medical Center, police said. He is in critical condition.

Two sought in shooting at store

Police are looking for two men who are believed to have been involved in a drive-by shooting at a local convenience store.

Metro Police reported that about 12:15 a.m. Monday several customers became involved in an argument at a convenience store near Bonanza Road and Eastern Avenue.

Police said that after the customers left the store, two men who had started the argument drove by and shot at the other customers in the parking lot. Three people received non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting.

Police identified the suspects' vehicle as an older, black, two-door, Japanese style passenger car.

The first suspect was described as Hispanic, 20 to 25 years old, with short hair, clean shaven, 5 feet 7 inches to 6 feet tall, and heavy set at more than 200 pounds. The second is an Hispanic around 30 years old and has short hair, a goatee and a mustache. He is about 5 feet 7 inches tall and 160 to 180 pounds.

Anyone with information may call Metro Police at 229-5634 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Victim dropped off at hospital dies

A 19-year-old Las Vegas man died over the weekend after he was dropped off with a gunshot wound at a local hospital, police said Wednesday.

Metro Police said Craig Bruce Wright Jr. was left at the Sunrise Hospital emergency room entrance at approximately 10:50 p.m. Saturday. A black man driving a red Lincoln Towncar with a light-colored roof was seen driving the man, police said.

Wright was pronounced dead at the hospital on Sunday morning, the Clark County coroner's office said.

Police have tentatively identified the dead man but said they are withholding his name while family is notified.

Anyone with information may call Metro Homicide at 229-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Wildland fires declared contained

Large wildland fires burning in Southern Nevada for the past 10 days have been declared contained, officials said Wednesday.

The Southern Desert Complex fire, a blaze that flared to 508,751 acres and crossed the Nevada-Utah border in Lincoln County, has been contained, officials said.

There are still some active fires burning in steep, rocky terrain, but the hot spots are inside the burned area.

The Delamar Fire burning between Alamo and Caliente was still burning in wildland areas, officials said.

More land added to Summerlin

The Clark County Zoning Board on Wednesday approved amending a plan to add 963 acres to the Summerlin master-planned community.

The Clark County Commission last month gave prominent developer Howard Hughes Properties the go-ahead to add 963 acres to the master-planned Summerlin commnity.

The massive plans for the south side of Charleston Boulevard west of Hualapai Way are expected to add another 14,600 residences to the community, almost doubling the roughly 18,000 already spread out over more than 6,000 acres, county officials said.

1,000 affected by power outage

About 1,000 Nevada Power customers were without power for more than an hour Wednesday afternoon.

Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen said the outage resulted from the collision of a pickup truck with a fuse cabinet downtown on Grand Central Parkway and F Street around 3:30 p.m.

Power was reported restored by 4:45 p.m.

Among the impacted customers were the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Plaza, California and Binion's hotels.

A facilities employee at Binion's said the outage did not disrupt operations as backup systems quickly came on to maintain power.

State bar pays lawyers' victims

The Clients' Security Fund of the State Bar of Nevada has awarded approximately $131,000 to 38 clients who sustained monetary losses as the result of the dishonest acts of a dozen lawyers, officials said. The awards ranged from $200 to $15,000.

"The purpose is to protect the public from those few lawyers among us who criminally abscond with money that belongs to the clients," said Vince Consul, president of the State Bar of Nevada. "The state bar has a policy to protect the public as much as possible and that's why we have the fund."

Some of cases brought to the security fund this year involved lawyers who took retainer payments from clients and then closed their practices and kept the money. Other cases involved lawyers who settled a case and took the settlement. The security fund also looked at cases where lawyers had settled personal injury claims and then took the money meant for their client's medical bills.

The money for the fund comes from a $15 charge assessed to each of the approximately 7,300 active lawyers in Nevada pay to the State Bar association. There is a cap of $15,000 per claim and $25,000 per lawyer. Consul said that the Bar is considering raising the amount paid by lawyers to $25 each because the amount the Bar currently raises is insufficient to cover all the claims the fund receives.

Trowbridge joins commission

A former Clark County Parks and Recreation Department director was appointed to the Las Vegas Planning Commission on Wednesday.

Glenn Trowbridge, 62, who now works for the Labor Management Cooperation Committee, was appointed to the seven-member volunteer commission by a 7-0 City Council vote.

Councilman Steve Wolfson nominated Trowbridge for the position, adding that Trowbridge was among 40 people who asked to be considered for the position.

"I like the process of governance and was always interested in planning," Trowbridge said. "With my background in government I think I can help."

Trowbridge worked for the county from 1979 until he retired in 2001 as the head of parks and recreation.

The planning commission is primarily an advisory board that makes recommendations to the council regarding zoning and other land-use decisions.

Metro Police is calling Independence Day

weekend drunk driving enforcement a success. Patrol and checkpoint efforts by various agencies across the valley resulted in a total of 64 DUI arrests over the weekend, Metro Police reported, with Metro making 38 of those arrests.